Twisted and Worn
by STIXandMANNY
Summary: Thor had once again mourned his baby brother, believing him dead. Only to find out he has once again been played. Loki knows the jig is up, that his time playing king is at an end, but he always has a plan. And this time he will not fail. Au-ish: Loki had only been only seventeen throughout the events in Thor, the Avengers and Thor the Dark world.
1. Chapter 1

**Cover image for this fic is a lovely piece of art I found done by brilliant artist slugette on deviant art.**

**I'm trying to keep chapter 5000 to 6000 words, so updates will likely be slow as I'm a slow typer. So be warned.**

* * *

"Where is he!" Thor roared in anger as he slammed his brother into the throne room wall, hand tight around his throat and hammer raised threateningly. "Where is Father!"

Loki gave a strangled cough as a twisted grin broke across his face, blood trickling down his chin, from the damage Mjolnir had caused his chest, his body no longer possessing the strength to heal the wound. "No point searching... For the dead."

A cry of pure rage ripped through the thunder god's throat as he brought his hammer down, aimed straight for the trickster's skull.

* * *

Two years.

It had been two years since the convergence, since his battle with Malekith, since he had stepped foot on Asgard, and two years since the loss of two of the most important people in his life. The faint twinge of pain that flared whenever he thought of his mother was still there, in his heart, but it was nothing compared to the pain that tore through him whenever his thoughts turned to his brother. Still just a boy.

His mother Frigga he had mourned, he had attended the funeral and mourned the loss along with everyone else. But there had been no funeral for his brother, no ceremony to see him off, no day of mourning, his body left forgotten on Svartalfheim.

Loki may have done many horrible things between Thor's coronation and Svartalfheim, but in the end he had given his life for both his mother and Thor. He deserved better than to rot away in that barren wasteland, but he just hadn't been able to bring himself to go looking for his brother's body. Loki had most likely have been long buried by the shifting sand and gravel anyway.

Thor knew his mortal friends worried about him, since Loki's death, he just hadn't been himself. He had tried at first, acting as though he were still his cheerful self, tried walking around with a smile on his face and joking along with everyone else, though he hadn't been able to keep it up. A year and a half ago Jane and Darcy had held their own little ceremony to try and help him mourn, the three of them had lit half a dozen tea light candles in a lovely little stream, in one of the parks a few blocks from their apartment and watched the current guide them down stream. Jane had even spoken a little about the time she had spent with Loki during the trip to the realm of the dark elves, it wasn't very long as she didn't really know his brother but Thor had been grateful none the less.

It had help with his grief a little, it wasn't the big ceremonial sending suited for a prince, but it was more than Asgard had given him. And it had seemed to lift a little of the weight off his shoulders.

He had never have imagined it would be so much harder the second time around. But then the first time he had only watched helplessly as Loki fell into the void. This time he had held his baby brother as he died, felt Loki's blood as it dripped from his body, watched as the life faded from his eyes. He was right there, he held Loki in his arms, but he could do nothing.

The worst part in it all had been the fact that he had given up on Loki, lost hope of getting his brother back - the wide eyed, mischievous boy, full of curiosity that used to follow him around, before he had been tainted by madness. That same boy he had caught a glimpse of when Loki lay there dying.

"Earth to Thor." Darcy's voice broke the god from his thoughts, he blinks as he turned from the balcony to look at the dark haired girl standing by the kitchen.

"Finally," she huffed. "Quit zoning out on me, Muscles, I've been calling for you for like the past five minutes, I had to come all the way up here just to get your attention. If someone's stolen it, all blame is on you buddy." she pointed accusingly.

"If what is stolen?" Thor asked, Darcy seemed to have a way of just assuming people were on the same page as her. Like the other morning when she had rushed into the room declaring "I_t's gone! Nowhere, like poof." _arms waving all over the place. Of course, no one knew what she was talking about, to which she replied. "_Duh, my iPod, only like the most important thing in my life. Geez, do you people even listen to what I say."_

"Jane's parcel." Darcy rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious. "The big heavy box filled with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I need your super muscles to get it upstairs to the apartment, because I tried dragging it into the foyer, and I'm one hundred percent certain my arms would drop off before I even got it through the door and into the foyer." She explained before heading back out into the hallway.

* * *

"I think we're going to need a bigger apartment." Darcy said, as they two of them tried to cram the oversized parcel into the kitchen/living room without it blocking access.

"This is indeed a large box, just how big is this machine of Jane's?" Thor asked.

"Too big for the apartment that's why she had SHIELD buy us that warehouse two blocks down." Darcy flopped back onto the couch, "Though I don't think that's all of it, the delivery guy said something about the other package coming next week."

"Please tell me I do not have to take this thing all the way to the warehouse once Jane returns?" Thor frowned, it had taken almost twenty minutes for them to get the thing up the stairs, having struggled to angle the thing around the bend in the staircase every time they made it up a floor.

"Of course not." Darcy laughed, as Thor sat on the armchair across from her. "Jane will tear the box open the second she sees it, then we'll take it over in pieces."

"So, I can't help but notice you seem to be in higher spirits lately, you even laughed at me when you accidentally got me wedged between the corner and the box when we got jammed in the first corner. Which was kind of mean by the way." She smiled. "But it was a real laugh, not that fake one you've been using the past few months."

"Aye." Thor nodded. "I have been feeling a little better lately, I think that ceremony, we had at the park really helped. I think I may finally be beginning to move forward."

Thor and Darcy were both on the lounge when Jane returned, watching a movie about a group of kids who decide to spend the weekend in a cabin in the woods and are now being hunted by some killer. For some reason Darcy likes to watch horror movies even though she spends most of the movie yelling at the characters not to do something or covering her face with her favourite cushion insisting she can not watch.

"OMG it's here!" Jane shouted with excitement as she spotted the human size box, causing Darcy to jump at the unexpected sound of her voice. Dropping her keys on the corner stand by the door as she rushed to the box tearing the tape away so she could open it up.

Darcy's brows twisted in confusion. "Uh, where's intern? You didn't leave him behind again did you?" She asked. Okay, so Ian had saved her and they even dated for a while, but it hadn't lasted, but at least things didn't get awkward they just went back to normal, like nothing had changed. She still called him intern, hell, even when they were dating she rarely used his actual name.

"One time." Jane reminded, she had only driven off without him one time. "He ran into a friend on our way back to the van, they've gone for drinks to catch up." She waved the other off as she tore the front of the box open. Thor had come around beside her to see what was inside. Janes face lit with excitement as she pulled out some of the smaller metal components. "When does the rest of it arrive?" She called out to Darcy.

"Next week sometime." the dark haired girl called back before going back to her movie. "Move away from the window idiot! Dang, why'd they have to kill the cute one."

"I can't wait to get this thing hooked up and going, do you have any idea how valuable this will be in furthering my research? It has almost three times the range of the equipment we have now and the picture quality is like ten times better not to mention it has ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma..."

Jane's excited rambling faded out as Thor's thoughts wandered back to his brother, seeing Jane so excited about her new machine even if it was only half of the thing, reminded him of the way Loki would get whenever he received a new book he had found particularly interesting or a spell he'd never seen before. He now regretted the way he never payed Loki's rambling much attention, eventually his brother had stopped trying to get Thor to join in his excitement.

"Thor are you okay?" Thor's attention snapped back to his girlfriend as she watched him with concern.

"I am fine." He gave her a small smile. "Seeing you just now, reminded me of the way Loki used to get when we were younger." He said. "I just wish I had paid him more attention."

"Hey, how about dinner. I was thinking we could try to give spaghetti another go." Jane smiled as she pats him on the shoulder and headed for the kitchen. "This time we won't use a wooden spoon." She had been trying to teach him to cook and their last attempt at spaghetti ended in flames after he left the wooden spoon a little too close to the stove top flames.

* * *

They had just finished eating when suddenly the Bifrost flashed outside, the bright beam fading to reveal the lady Sif standing on the balcony. Thor rushed over to the glass door that stood between them and the balcony and pulled it open.

"Sif, what are you doing here?"

"I have urgent news." The dark haired warrior woman spoke.

"Please come in." Jane insisted, gesturing for her to come inside. Sif nodded respectfully before following them to the living room.

"You must return to Asgard immediately." Sif said in all seriousness, looking to Thor. "An imposter has taken the throne under the guise of the All-father. We have not acted out against him yet, as Heimdall only just glimpsed through the guise recently. We know not where Odin is, Heimdall has scoured the realms, but has found no sign of him."

"What?" Thor was taken aback by this news. How had someone managed to steal the throne without Heimdall seeing and where was his father that the all-seer could not find him, but more importantly how long had his father been missing? How long has this imposter held the throne?

"Who is it? Who is this imposter that has usurped the throne?" Thor growled. He was not prepared for his warrior friend's reply, none of them were.

"Loki."

"Tha-that cannot be." Thor stammered completely caught off guard. "Loki? That's impossible... He... I saw him, I was there when he died. You are wrong! Loki died an honorable death, it is someone else, it must be." The thunderer's fists clenched by his side, Sif may be a close friend, but she had not right making such accusations. In the end his brother had lost his life doing the right thing. As far as Thor was concerned Loki had redeemed himself and he would not have her or any other try and drag his fallen brother's name through the mire.

"I am sorry Thor," Sif placed a comforting hand her her prince's shoulder, she knew it was painful for Thor to hear, but someone had to tell him. "But Heimdall saw it himself, he slipped up and his spell fell, for but a moment, but it was long enough for the truth to be seen."

"Then Heimdall saw wrong." Thor snapped back, ripping his shoulder free from her touch.

Sif's face scrunched in annoyance as her patience ran thin, Odin was missing and The throne was occupied by a false king. A false king who had already tried to destroy one realm and waged war on another.

"Face it Thor, Loki has played you again!" She snapped. "He has played us all for fools, this wouldn't be the first time. Scheming and trickery is what he does best and with you here on Midgard he has Asgard all to himself."

Thor was sure he was just about to hit the warrior woman in the face for such words, but two gentle arms wrapping around his chest kept him from doing so. He looked down to meet Jane's concerned, honey eyes.

"Perhaps you should go with her, to clear this mess up." Jane suggested. "Your father is missing after all."

"Yeah, give this imposter a butt kicking for messing with ya family." Darcy nodded, giving an emphasizing punch.

"Very well, I shall return to Asgard." Thor announced, giving Jane a light squeeze before heading for the balcony, Sif close behind, he nods goodbye to Jane and Darcy as the Bifrost worked its magic.

He would return to Asgard, he would deal with this imposter, find his father and clear his brother's name.

* * *

He was bound to slip up eventually, with the way things had been going lately he knew this as a fact, and though his spell had flickered for but a moment he knew it had been one moment too long. If the gate keepers gaze had been cast his way, and with his luck, it surely would have been, then there was no doubt Thor would be on his way.

A simple slip up that would never have happened before, but lately things had been falling apart, he had started making mistakes, minor actions or slips of the tongue. Others were starting to get suspicious he was certain of it, well, pretty sure, he was almost positive one of the Einherjar had been giving him a funny look as he passed this morning. Though perhaps he was just being paranoid, it had been almost a month since he has had a proper night's rest after all.

_"Brilliant, why not have Loki is here painted in large letters for all to see next time."_ A mocking voice hissed to his right.

Loki just continued to stare at the towering golden doors at the far end of the throne room, attempting to ignore the illusion that took his image. Though he knew it was pointless, it had first appeared when he was a small child, he had created it to help keep him company during days he had no one else to play with, only to be forgotten as he started occupying himself with magic and studies. But it had come back after his mother's death and he hadn't been able to shake it since, at least it only seemed to come out when he was alone.

"_Though I'm sure the Chitauri still got the message. You were dead to all the nine and in between, and then you had to go and reveal yourself, pin your location on the map with a bright red marker."_ It scoffed, as it rounded the throne placing its self right in Loki's line of sight with a cruel smirk on its face. "_I'm beginning to think it isn't Thor who's the useless dim-witted fool."_ It gave a short chuckle before fading into nothing.

Loki let out a low growl as he was once again alone in the room, he wasn't a fool he knew he had messed everything up and he was well aware that if Heimdall had caught his slip, then The Other had as well, which meant it would not be long before they came for him. Though he was sure Thor would come for him first, in fact he planned on it.

He ran his fingers through his hair for the umpteenth time, pulling tight as he got to the ends as he continue to stare at the doors, Thor was bound to arrive any moment now.

Everything had been going so smoothly in the beginning, where had he gone wrong? Perhaps the question was when hadn't he gone wrong? It seemed he could do nothing right lately, ever since Thor's botched coronation. Every decision he has made since that day seemed to bring him one step closer to his own downfall.

His fall from the Bifrost, the months spent held by the Chitauri, his failed attempts on Midgard and then... His mother. He had given it directions, Maekith's beast, not that he knew of the trouble brewing with the dark elves at that time, but that changed nothing, he had still aided their escape which led to his mother's murder.

So he should have known from the start that he was destined to fail here as well.

He had been so angry when the man he once thought his father had talked to him upon his return from Midgard, if you could call their little interaction a talk that is. Disowning him and declaring that Frigga's love was the only reason he was allowed to live. No, Odin held no love for the boy he had once claimed a son, all he cared was his wife didn't leave him. And then when his name had been the first word to leave Odin's mouth when he had been informed that a body had been found.

Loki.

Not the mortal Jane, it had to be Loki, he had expected Loki to fail, to fall in battle. But of course, weak, pathetic Loki had to be the one to fall in battle. Odin was so sure that the trickster had died that he never saw him coming, and the throne was his. Though this time he wasn't trying to prove his worth to the old one-eyed god, he'd stopped caring about what Odin thought of him the day he was locked away in a cell beneath the palace. Even if there was a faint whisper in the back of his mind that insisted that was a lie. Tat told him he did not report his latest kingly triumphs on accession simply to rub it in the old fools face but because he still secretly desired praise from the man.

Asgard had been in shambles, they needed a king more than ever, so why not him? He could be a better ruler than Odin ever was, even if he had to wear the old king's image to do so. Thor hadn't wanted the throne, not that that was surprising it seemed all he cared about lately was his precious mortals, what had caught him by surprise though, was when Thor had admitted that Loki had understood rule better than Thor himself did.

So Loki had done all he could to make sure Asgard would be back on its feet and prospering by the time the thunderer took the throne, Loki wasn't foolish, he knew he could not hold the throne forever.

Asgard was pretty much rebuilt in a little over a month, thanks to the aid of the dwarves. He had easily tricked the tunnel dwellers into wanting Asgard's repairs done swiftly, while Dwarves have been known to be stubborn and unbearably patient at times, to be able to hold grudges for as long as a lifetime, they were rather impatient when it came to gaining something they desired.

And they had desired samples of the metal the thought extinct Dark Elf ships were made of, which Asgard's king was happy to give them, though the city's repairs came first. He was more than happy to give them a generous portion of the metal from the downed ship, after at least eighty percent of the city's damages were seen to, of course the dwarves wanting to get their hands on the metal samples as soon as possible offered ten of their finest smiths and builders to help with repairs. Rather than two, as was agreed upon during the time of Bor, should one of the realms fall in need of assistance. Getting Asgard up and running again in half the time.

Which the people had praised him for, they had also commended him on his success in convincing the Elves of Alfheim in assisting with supplies to help the Vanir, who were still recovering from the attacks they had suffered, and managing to reengage the peace treaty with the Jotnar. A long and tedious task that was, though some grew wary as to why their king had handed the casket back to the Jotnar after denying them for centuries.

Just imagine everyone's faces when they find out it had been him on the throne all this time. That it had been Loki they were all complementing and praising.

Loki lets his illusion drop, losing the image of Odin that had cloaked him the past two years and removing the wards he'd placed on the throne room to shield it from prying eyes. No point in continuing a lie that's been exposed. Let the gate keeper see, let Thor's friends run off and tattle, it certainly wouldn't be the first timed they'd betrayed Loki and he knew for a fact that they would do so again in a heartbeat, as would the rest of Asgard. He should never have let Heimdall and the warriors out of the dungeon, he should have left them to rot where Odin had left them, instead he had released them for his brother's sake.

No, not his brother, Thor was _not_ his brother. For the sake of the man he hated most - besides Odin, but that old fool was nothing to him now - and yet every time he hurt Thor, Loki felt as though he were being torn apart from the inside out. And he hated it. It frustrated him more than anything, Thor's presence, his voice, touch, even his smell gave Loki an inexplicable feeling of safety, as though nothing could harm him, yet at the same time made him feel weak and insignificant. He had always been the lesser of the two and no matter how hard he tried, how far he pushed himself he could never be what everyone wanted.

He could never be Thor.

But none of that mattered any more, because soon enough his brother would burst through those doors. Loki may have messed up, but he would use it to his advantage, he'd had time to think whilst he waited for the golden prince's arrival, Thor would burst through the doors demanding answers, they will clash and in the end one will be victorious. He already knew exactly how it would play out, step for step and once all is over only one brother will be left standing.

Only one will win.

"_You cannot win against Thor and you know it, you will fail just as you do everything else."_ The dark voice goaded from his side.

"This is one fight I won't lose"' Loki insisted, it was sad really, that talking with this false creature had somehow become a normal thing over the past few years.

"_Pathetic really, how easily you lie to yourself."_ The other him replied without interest, as it moved towards the doors. Once again the room fell into silence, until it decided to speak again. "_Tell me you haven't honestly managed to convince yourself that there is actually a scenario in which you come out of this the victor. You know your mind was the ONE good thing you had going for you, and now look at it, it lays in more ruin than that tin can's tower."_

Loki snarled, clenching his hand so tight his nails pierce skin, why could he not dismiss this thing. He was about to respond when the doors at the end of the room clunked as someone prepared to open them, the other Loki fading once more as Loki stood from the throne.

Finally.

"You dare to steal the throne of Asgard!" Thor roared as the doors burst open with unnecessary force, pointing his hammer threateningly, as he stormed into the room. Apparently his friends were wise enough to stay put in the hall rather than follow him in.

'_Good._' Loki thought, he was not in the mood to interact with those pathetic nobodies, and he certainly couldn't guarantee their survival if they had so gallantly volunteered to intervene. Always sticking their noses where they didn't belong.

"... Loki?" The blonde brute's mouth fell, his blue eyes growing wide as realisation dawned on him.

Loki simply smirked as he caused the heavy doors behind Thor to slam shut with a flick of his hand, muffling the surprised shouts of the warriors four. Thor gave a quick glance at the door behind him before looking back to his brother. This wasn't real, it had to be some sort of trick, some form of foul magic, cast to trick him into believing he was seeing his dead brother.

"What form of trickery is this." He demanded angrily, stepping closer to the imposter.

"Trickery," Loki raised a brow as he made his way down the steps, placing his hand on his chest in feigned hurt. "Dear Thor, you wound me. I see no tricks here." He glanced around the room as if searching for some form of trick or trap, as he summoned one of his daggers with his left hand, his right tightened around Gungnir.

Thor's eyes narrowed as he searched his brothers face, he looked far paler and thinner than he had last seen him, his dark locks were cut back to just above his shoulders, though the ends were messy and uneven, much like the time when he was a child and took a blade to his own hair because he had been told he looked like a girl by one of the other kids.

But it was him, it really was Loki standing I front of him. Thor's brow twisted in pain as he spoke. "But, how? I... I thought you dead." The words came out a little more than a whisper.

Loki took a deep breath, smothering out the pain those words dragged up. He had no room for those emotions, no need, soon enough everything would be decided once and for all. So instead he shot back coldly.

"Well, thinking never was your strong point."

Thor staggered at those words, was this all a game to Loki? "I thought you gone, Loki! I mourned you. Again! I've spent the last two years blaming myself for your death, do you care at all for those you hurt, you cannot just toy with others feelings!" He cried in frustration. Frustration at both Loki, and himself, for once again letting himself be fooled by his brother's cruel tricks.

He should have seen through it earlier, he realised now, just how long his brother had been playing king, it was Loki who had sat upon the throne when he returned after defeating Malekith, it had to have been. Odin would never have allowed him to turn down the throne for mere mortals, his father had been furious with him for bringing Jane into Asgard, he certainly wouldn't have allowed Thor to return to her after he had turned down the throne. It was so obvious now, how had he not seen it at the time?

"Why?"

"Why?" Loki laughed back, before his face fell back into his usual mask of indifference. "Why, what? Why did I deceive you? Why did I attack you precious mortals, you're beloved Midgard. Try to obliterate that hunk of ice infested with monsters?" Loki shook his head, "Why, Thor, surely you should know by now. I am a monster, it is in my nature. In my blood."

"A monster?" Was this really what Loki thought of himself? A monster. He still believed the Jotunar to be nothing but monsters, believing the exaggerated tales they were told as children. "Monsters are not born, Loki, they are made. You were not born one, you became one."

"Enough!" Loki growled.

"I had, honestly thought you changed, that you'd managed to pull yourself from whatever madness had taken hold. But I see now I was wrong, you haven't changed at all, still scheming, plotting and trying to steal a throne. What would mother think if she could see you now!" Thor growled out.

Their mother had still believed in him, believed he still had good in him, that the intelligent, quiet boy full of playful tricks and curiosity, was still in there somewhere. "She had never given up hope for you, she defended you with everything she had, even after everything you had done. What would she think now?"

"DO NOT SPEAK OF HER!" Loki snarled violently, his eyes flashing dangerously. "It is forbidden to speak of the fallen queen." His entire body shaking with anger. How dare Thor bring Frigga into this.

"Forbidden?" Thor scoffed, "By whom!"

"By law of Asgard." Loki snapped back. "As declared by Asgard's king!"

She was gone, why did everyone have to keep bringing her up? Loki couldn't stand it, every time she was brought up it just reminded him that she was gone, that she was dead and it was his fault. And the last words he had spoken to her had been denouncing her as his mother. He hadn't meant a word of it, he was just angry that she still insisted Odin was his father, of course she was his mother, she was the only person he still loved and trusted completely, and now she was gone forever.

"You forbad her to be spoken of?" Thor shot back in angered astonishment. "She loved you, and you would have her forgotten by all."

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Loki shouted, breathing harshly as he gave his hair another tug. Not now, he had to keep it together. Stay focused. They were getting off track, he had to gain back control, Thor was calming down, this wasn't part of the plan.

"Loki?"

Was that concern, he could hear in Thor's voice, as the blonde took a step closer. No. No, Thor had to be angry he had to keep the thunderer in a rage or this wouldn't work, Loki would lose. He couldn't lose. With a snarl Loki tossed the dagger in his hand, embedding it deep in Thor's shoulder.

"If you've come to claim the throne for yourself, Odinson, I'm afraid you've made a wasted journey." The ex-prince goaded.

Thor let out a snarl as he pulled the blade from his shoulder, the two brothers circling each other like wild beasts. "Where is he?" Thor ordered, the name Loki had used to address him jolting his memory as to why he had come to Asgard.

His missing father.

"He," Loki spat, "is no longer of importance, he has no place here now that _I_ am king."

"Where is father, Loki. Answer me!" Thor growled, he was beginning to tire of Loki's games.

"Make me." Loki lunged at Thor, narrowly missing the god of thunder as Thor sidestepped.

"Do not try me, brother." Thor hissed swinging Mjolnir, only to have the hammer slice through the air as his brother's projected doppelgänger vanished. The amused huff sounding behind him, as the backend of Gungnir slammed into his back, sending him stumbling, only added to his anger.

Loki couldn't help but smile as a roar of anger escaped Thor's throat. This was more like it. Loki ignored the voice in his head that continued to insist he would not win, as the brothers continued to clash, what did it know, he knew exactly what he was doing. Thor was both at his strongest and his weakest when he was in a blind rage. His rage fuelled his strength, making him twice as dangerous, yet it was so much easier to manipulate him, a nudge here, a well thought word or two there and you could have him playing straight into your hand.

Loki rolled left, firing a blast from Gungnir the moment he got back to his knees, blasting a hole in the pillar Thor had just been I front of. Ducking as Thor retaliated tossing his hammer straight at Loki, soring over his head and into the wall behind him.

"Predictable, as always, Thor." He scoffed, as he swung the golden spear at his brother once more, following him as Thor stepped back, striking at him once more before crouching to the ground and sweeping his leg around, avoiding Mjolnir on her return trip back into Thor's hands.

Predicting Loki's attack, Thor jumped the trickster's leg, unfortunately he hadn't seen the next one coming, letting out a pained growl as Loki slammed the backend of Gungnir into the still healing wound on his shoulder.

Gripping his shoulder as he backed a few paces putting a little distance between himself and his swift striking brother. Loki was toying with him, using the end and shaft of Odin's weapon rather than its blade. He was mocking him, this was all just some sick game to his brother.

"No more games, Loki. Tell me what you have done with the All-father." He demanded. Loki simply laughed in his face, that cruel hollow chuckle, he'd become so good at, a wicked grin spread across his face.

Thor growled, he would wipe that smile from his face. Each sound that escaped Loki's lips just added to his anger as the dark haired god used the same trick he had on the Bifrost two years ago, multiplying copies of himself all around the room. His laughter echoing loudly in Thor's ears. He howled as he swung Mjolnir through the illusions only to have others replace them just as quickly as he destroyed them, unable to use his lightning like last time as he was indoors, in a fit of frustration, he tossed the mighty hammer through the copies and across the room in anger, breaths coming raggedly through his nose as he clenched his hands it tight fists.

Thor was just as surprised as Loki, that Mjolnir actually hit, startling a yelp from the younger god and sending him flying into the wall with enough force to crack the stone. Gungnir clanging to the floor as it fell from Loki's hand, the dark haired trickster crumbling to the floor after it, as Mjolnir returned to her master.

Loki lay still, half lent against the wall as he struggled to regain his breath, coughing up blood as his hand moved to his broken chest, where the damned hammer had crushed and broken ribs. Several pushed back into his left lung which he was pretty sure had been punctured, making it increasingly difficult to breath. As was to be expected when one foolishly decides to go into battle without their breastplate. He didn't even have a chance to try and straighten himself out before Thor came striding across the room and grabbed him by the neck.

"Now, where is he!" Thor roared in anger as he slammed his brother into the throne room wall, hand tight around his throat and hammer raised threateningly. "Where is Father!"

This was it, this was the moment that decided the battle, the moment that would determine the winner once and for all. And all Loki had to do was say six little words, six words that would play Thor just the right way.

Loki gave a strangled cough as a twisted grin broke across his face, blood trickling down his chin, from the damage Mjolnir had caused his chest, his body no longer possessing the strength to heal the wound. "No point searching... for the dead."

A cry of pure rage ripped through the thunder god's throat as he brought his hammer down, aimed straight for the trickster's skull.

"Finish it." Loki whispered to himself, closing his eyes, as the hammer descended.

_I win._


	2. Chapter 2

"Finish it."

Mjorlnir crashed into the wall inches from Loki's head with enough force to shatter the stone half burying the hammer in the solid wall, his brother's whispered words causing his mind just enough clarity to regain some control over his anger. Mjorlnir was left embedded in the wall as he released his brother's throat, stumbling back a few steps as their meaning hit him.

Finish it, Loki had said finish it, he had wanted this, that's what all the toying and taunting had been for. Loki had wanted him angry, in a blinding rage, he had wanted Thor to kill him. And he had almost fallen for it, he had almost killed his own brother.

Loki fell to the floor, coughing violently, managing to hold himself partly off the floor with his elbow, as he coughed up more blood, his body shaking against his will. His mind was a blur, as he tried to figure out what had happened, he was on the ground, but he was still breathing, well struggling to breath, but alive all the same, did Thor miss? How could Thor miss? This wasn't right. This is not how it was supposed to play out, Loki wasn't supposed to lose, he couldn't, he wouldn't.

"Coward." Loki hissed between gasps. Thor's eyes widened in shock at his brother's words. "F-finish this... you coward." He spoke, a little louder this time.

"Kill me!"

The desperation alone in his brother's voice when he demanded Thor kill him was enough to stagger the blonde. Thor shook his head desperately as he took a step closer to his injured brother, "Loki-" he started only to be interrupted as an empty half choked laugh escaped Loki's mouth sending him into another coughing fit, before he could continue.

"Oh, h-how shameful it must be, how h... humiliating to be called such by Asgard's greatest coward," Loki laughed, fully aware of the tears trailing down his face, they just wouldn't stop, he couldn't control them anymore. He no longer had control over his emotions, just like he no longer held control of the battle. He'd lost control of everything.

The other Loki was right, he had been destined to lose from the start. "Asgard's greatest shame, w-who slinks through the shadows and hi... hides from battle with cowardly tricks and illusions, t-too afraid to... face enemies head on." He tried to push himself up only to collapse again, too weak, but then when wasn't he weak.

"Weak, pathetic Loki. How they would mock, knowing their mighty... Prince was too b... big a coward to wipe out the Frost giant runt, stain of Asgard-"

"No." Thor cut his brother's rant short as he closed the distance between them, "No, you are wrong." He pleaded as he wrapped his arms around Loki's much smaller frame and pressed the younger against his chest, his brother tried to fight him off but hadn't the energy left to do so.

"You are wrong Loki, you are no coward, you have fought many battles alongside me, no matter how large or numerous the foes. And if not for your skills, the aid of your magic than surely my friends and I would not be here today. If anyone is a coward it is I, I mock and tease your talents, passing them off as merely tricks out of jealousy."

"I mean it brother." Thor insisted, hearing Loki's huff of disbelief.

"You are one of the strongest, bravest people I know. Perhaps you are not the greatest in the weapons arena, but you were not afraid to follow your own path. To chase knowledge and study magic because it was what you desired, rather than giving in to what others desired you follow. You followed your heart, even if it went against what the rest of Asgard deemed fit for a prince. I had always been too afraid to do something that might lead others to think me weak. I have always envied that in you." He confessed.

He had hoped his words would help to calm and comfort his brother, but instead they only seemed to energize Loki's attempts to get out of Thor's hold, Loki struggled with renewed vigour, hissing as he tried to push the older god away, his eyes showing a mix of pain and anger.

"Lying does not suit you, brother." He growled, which was exactly what Thor was doing, he had to have been, there was no way his words were the truth. Thor couldn't possibly be envious of him, nobody envied Loki, he studied the arts of women, he spent the majority of his time alone and whilst he had several acquaintances the only real friends he had were Thor and Frigga, which was just sad. How could Thor envy him? Thor. The shining example of everything an Asgardian should be, loved by all and surrounded by friends.

No, it had to be lies.

"Loki please..." The rest of Thor's sentence faded out as Loki's hearing dropped out and his vision blurred momentarily, his head spinning. Everything was catching up to him, he hadn't the strength left to fight it, but he couldn't lose consciousness, not yet, if he passed out Thor would rush him straight to the healers.

"Very well." Loki shook his head as he stilled his struggles, "If you've not the stomach to finish this."

Loki's next movement was so fast that Thor hadn't even the time to realise his brother was holding the small blade until he had thrust the dagger into his own abdomen.

"Loki!" Thor shouted in shock, only just managing to catch his brother's hand as he attempted to bring the blade down a second time, pulling the weapon from Loki's grip and tossing it across the room.

His hand swiftly moving to stem the blood flow from the new wound, his eyes moving from Loki's stomach, back to his face and then to the doors. Loki was fading fast, it was becoming increasingly obvious that his brother's magic wasn't kicking in to help repair the damage his body had taken, and if Thor didn't get him to a healer quick he would lose him.

"Loki, brother please." Thor pleaded, turning Loki's face so that their eyes met. "Please, I need to know what you have done with him, where is Odin?"

Hazy green eyes blinked lazily trying to stay open, as Loki inhaled a shaky breath, his lungs, making a wheezing sound as he did so. His voice coming out a little more than a murmur.

"If you were smart, you'd already know."

Loki puts up little resistance, when Thor scooped him off of the floor, carefully readjusting his hold so he could summon Mjorlnir with his right hand, turning for the door as soon as his fingers wrapped around her handle.

Thor felt Loki's body go limp as he lost consciousness, just as Thor shoved open the large golden doors with his shoulder, his friends almost falling over themselves as they backed away from the door, most likely having crowded around to try and listen to what was transpiring on the other side. Though he doubted they could hear much apart from what was shouted between them, well his shouts at least, even when screaming at the top of their lungs Loki had always had the quieter voice.

"What happened?"

"Is he dead?"

"Where is Odin? Did he say?"

"What will you do with him now?"

His friends bombarded him with questions as he entered the hall. He was about to tell them he could not answer when they all spoke at the same time, when the question of Loki's state finally registered, his blue eyes moved to lock onto Fandral, apparently along with each of his other friends.

"What?" Fandral shrugged awkwardly, finding everyone's gaze on himself, "It was a perfectly reasonable question. Surely he'd be trying to tear Thor apart with the enthusiasm of a rabid bilgesnipe, for carrying him like a maiden otherwise." He pointed out. Besides, someone had to ask, the dark haired youth looked like death after all.

"He lives, for now. But he is in dire need of a healer." Thor informed them as he began down the hall with haste once more, his friends following as they continued to pester him with questions.

"So?" Sif pushed for an answer to her earlier question, "Did he tell you of the Allfather?"

Thor was just about to shake his head in reply, as Loki's words from before came to mind. "_If you were smart, you'd already know."_ The words, bringing with them an old memory from when Loki was only seven.

_"This way!" Loki insisted excitedly, tugging his older brother's arm as he led him down the empty hallway, one of the less used parts of the lower palace, not far from the weapons vault. _

_The boy had been all but bouncing impatiently all morning to tell his brother the news. Thor had been sparring with his friends in the training fields, but soon decided to call it a day as noticed the small boy trying to wait patiently as he possibly could while bursting with excitement. Probably for the best anyway as his brother's unusually super energetic presence was rather distracting._

_"Come on you have to see this." Had been the only words spill from Loki's lips before he grabbed Thor's hand and began leading him towards the palace. _

_"You had better not be leading us to the weapons vault, you know father doesn't like us going in there." Thor warned. It wouldn't be the first time Loki had taken him in there to show him one of the many artefacts just because he had read or been told a new fact about one of them and just had to share his new found knowledge with someone._

_"This is a hundred times better than the weapons vault!" Loki insisted as he came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the hall, giving a quick glance in both directions before turning to the wall and crouching to his knees. He slid his hand from left to right along one of the stones at the very bottom of the wall, the stone fading to reveal a hole in which the small boy stuck his hand. There was a small humming sound and then a large patch of wall in front of them began to shimmer and ripple as if it were a mirage._

_Loki grinned up at Thor as he rose to his feet and stepped through the wall, Thor blinked a few times in disbelief before following after him. As he stepped through the no longer solid wall he found himself in an oversized room littered with intricate pillars and old ornate wall scones. At the opposite end of the room was a large raised platform with one of the black and gold sitting cushions from Loki's room sitting in the centre of it._

_ "It's just like the throne room." Loki giggled happily as he stood on tiptoe in an attempt to pull down one of the unlit torches, and lighting it with a small spark spell once he managed to get it down._

_"Indeed." Thor hummed back, as Loki skipped from wall sconce to wall scone, lighting each with the one he held in his hands. The room was somewhat similar to that of the throne room, perhaps not quite as big or extravagant but it still held some similarity, and if his guess was right then the cushion was Loki's substitute throne. Looking back out of curiosity, he realised the wall had stilled again, solid once more he discovered as he placed a hand on it. _

_"Don't worry, it does that, there is a switch on this side as well." Loki told him as the boy returned the torch to its place on the wall. _

_"Isn't it brilliant, I hid that creepy little statue from my chambers in here and then asked Heimdall to find it, just to see what the room actually is, but he said he was unable to see it." He grinned. "Heimdall cannot see inside this room, brother, we can do anything we want and not get in trouble."_

_"Who knew such a place existed inside the palace." Thor smiled back in awe, it was indeed a brilliant find on Loki's part. "But should we not tell father, surely he would need to know of all the rooms in his palace?"_

_Loki looked somewhat betrayed for a moment before replying with a huffed, "Surely if father is as smart as everyone claims, he'd already know."_

_"Ha, worry not brother this shall be our secret." Thor reassured his little brother with a pat on the head. This room held way too much potential to just throw it all away by telling Odin of its existence, if the gate keeper's gaze really couldn't fall within. Thor's smile almost reached ear to ear as he thought of the fun they could have._

"Yes, actually, I think he did." Thor answered, it had been many a century since he had last ventured into that hidden room, so many in fact that he had almost forgotten about it.

"Now find Eir quickly, tell her it is an emergency and send her to my chambers." Thor ordered as he hurried down the hall, Hogun and Valstag nodding in understanding before rushing off towards the healing rooms, Sif and Fandral continued trailing behind Thor.

"This is unwise Thor, should we not take him back to his cell. Eir's is just as capable of healing him there as she is your room." Sif pointed out, twice now the second prince had faked his own death, only to pop back up causing trouble, he obviously couldn't be trusted.

"He is dangerous." Fandral agreed, "You may find yourself with a dagger in your side."

"Enough. My brother is hardly a danger to anyone at the moment." Thor growled back as he opened his chamber doors, closing them harshly behind him, leaving his friends on the other side.

Once in his room Thor gently lay his brother on the bed and begun to remove the younger prince's tunic, using a small blade to cut the material away. After swiftly removing Loki's top he folded a scrap of the material placing it on the still bleeding wound in Loki's abdomen and applying pressure.

He grimaced as his eyes fell on his brother's violently bruised and broken chest, there was considerable swelling already as some of the broken ribs shifted oddly whenever Loki wheezed in a breath. The thing that caught his gaze most though, was the raw inflamed scar that contrast violently against the dark bruises, in the very spot Kurse had impaled his brother through the chest.

A scar, never before has a scar remained to mar his brother's skin after such a length of time, Loki's magic had always ensured not a scratched remained. So why had it failed him this time?

It wasn't long before there was a gentle knocking at the door, before Asgard's finest healer rushed in, a small crate of potions and healing supplies in her arms. She moved swiftly to Thor's side with every intent to start work right away before noticing the motionless body that lay on the bed. Catching her off guard as she had been under the impression it was the eldest son of Odin who was hurt. After all the second prince was thought dead by all.

"L-Loki, but how?" She stuttered in shock.

"He needs aid." Thor stressed, he could try to fill her in later, but first his brother needed attention.

"Of course." she shook the questions from her mind as she looked the young prince over.

Ideally it would have been easier had she been able to use the tables in the healing chambers to better assess the internal damage, but she could see how that could have caused more drama than good considering the patient. So she would have to rely on her own skills, carefully placing her right hand between his chest and the deep wound in his abdomen and using her magic to seek out what damage had been caused.

"Foolish child." Eir grumbled under her breath as she, turned all focus to the dagger wound, the damage done to his ribs and lung could wait. "Quick pass me the blue jar, then crush up a healing stone and pour the dust into the bottle with the green cork." She ordered.

"Where in the nine did you find him? Everyone thought him dead, that he died on Svartalfh- Oh my, it has been him this whole time hasn't it! Loki has been on the throne since the convergence hasn't he? I thought it odd that Odin All-father would hand back the casket."

"Aye." Thor admitted hesitantly, as he threw out the blood soaked rags he had used to stem the blood and handing Eir a fresh roll of bandages. Taking the needle she had used to stitch his brother's wound and placing it in the small bowl by the healing stones.

"It is obvious the two of you fought once more," she spoke as she started piecing Loki's smashed ribs back in place with her magic. "I do wish the two of you would stop making a habit of it, it almost always ends with one or the other in the healing rooms."

"Loki is just so good at goading me, I had not thought Mjorlnir would hit him, he was playing his magic." Thor sighed.

Eir shook her head as she moved her sights to the scar on the young prince's chest, which looked to have been infected at some point. And considering there was such a large scar when Loki's Magic usually worked to prevent scaring, the infection had likely been severe. Luckily it looked to be on its way to healing.

"Aye, and how often have you gotten yourself in this same position in the past having let your temper get the best of you, weighed down by guilt as your brother is seen to by a healer. Honestly you boys are nothing but trouble."

"But what of the All-father? If Loki has been upon the throne, then what has come of Odin?" Eir's asked, as she carefully poured a concoction of various herbs and potions down the injured prince's throat, before moving her hands to Loki's temples and chanting a short incantation.

"I do not think Loki has caused him harm," Thor replied, "I think I know where father is. What are you doing?" He asked, as she finished the spell.

"I have placed him in a healing sleep." Eir answered, as she pulled the blanket over Loki's body, "I have done all I can, but his body needs rest, he hasn't been eating and the potion I gave him contained some of the nutrients he's lacking, but his wounds cannot completely heal until his magic returns."

She hovered her hand over the dagger wound as she turned back to Thor, "Such a small wound yet the damage it caused his liver was alarming, and I fear it will take some weeks before it is fully healed. It was self inflicted, wasn't it? That boy always knew how to fell a foe swiftly, with even the smallest of blades."

"Thor, I'm afraid I'm unable to heal your brother back to full health this time, Asgard is ill equip in matters of the mind." She spoke seriously, as she packed away her supplies, "I fear his mind is damaged far beyond my knowledge, I do however know of some light elves who specialise in the mind, perhaps I can get in contact with one of them."

* * *

Thor closed the doors to his chambers behind him after Eir had left, and he had made sure Loki would be comfortable. Sliding his hammer through the handles to ensure none but he could enter the room, he had to be sure his brother was safe as he went to find Odin.

It wasn't long before Thor found himself standing I front of the very wall, he had passed through so many times as a child. Crouching to his knees, he slid his hand along the stone that hid the door trigger, pushing the small trigger hidden beneath, and returning to his feet just as the wall began to ripple. His father's heated words greeting him as he stepped through.

"I shall have you put to death for this, you vile little... Thor?" Odin blinked as his eldest's figure emerged from the wall. "I though you were on Midgard? How...

It certainly wasn't what Thor was expecting, he wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting to find when he entered, well obviously Odin, but the room itself? Perhaps he was expecting something more alike to the dimly lit room littered with Loki's toys and storybooks, and the wooden practice swords and guards armour Thor had snuck from the armoury. As it was when they last used the room when Loki was nine, or more so, when Thor had outgrown playing fort with his little brother.

He hadn't, however, been expecting it to be so... Loki. Deep green embroidered drapes lining the walls between pillars, a large bookshelf taking up the far wall next to a long mahogany desk, there was even a sitting area and several artworks scattered about. Which had Thor wondering just how long had his brother spent alone down in this room after he had tired of it?

And how had he not noticed it?

Odin stood in front of an oversized bed much like the one he used when he was in the Odin's sleep, had he succumb to it whilst he was down here?

"Father, I came as soon as I heard of what had transpired." Thor said, "I had not believed it at first when Sif had told me Loki had taken the throne."

"I assume you have dealt with that problem."

"Loki no longer holds the throne, if that is what you mean." Thor replied with a frown, not quite liking his father's tone, though surely Odin was just furious over the current situation, and just needed a chance to calm down.

"And what of your traitorous brother?" Odin asked with a harsh snort, as he slowly crossed the room.

"He is currently out of action." Thor replied, deciding to leave it at that for the time being, he daren't risk his father anywhere near Loki whilst he was so riled up. Thor had to be smart about this, he had to act carefully, he had already lost his mother, he didn't dare risk losing another of his loved ones.

The All-father opened his mouth to speak again, but Thor beats him to it. "Are you well? I shall accompany you to your chambers, you look a little pale." He worried over his father.

"I am fine boy!" Odin snapped, reaching for a pillar as he swayed slightly, "I must reclaim the throne, assure the people that there rightful king has returned." He insisted.

"In exception of Heimdall, the lady Sif and the warriors three, none even know of your absence, we had thought it best to keep it that way." Thor explained, helping the ageing Asgardian to the door.

* * *

"Did you find the All-father?" Eir asked, as Thor was rushing past the healing rooms, he had almost walked straight into her, as he was deep in thought.

"Aye, he seems well, though a little drained. He has returned to his chambers." Thor informed her, before continuing on his way, he was glad to find that the hall containing his chambers was virtually empty, only one guard stood a few feet from the prince's door.

"I've been told to inform you, your friends await you in the dinning hall, they wish to have words." He said with a bow, waiting for Thor's approval before heading back down the hall.

Thor turned to his chamber doors, moving to remove his hammer from the handle, he had no doubt his friends had hoped to gain access to his room in his absence. He would go see his friends shortly, but first he would check on his brother.

He was drawn to a crumpled note on the floor just behind the door as it crinkled beneath his boot, when he stepped on it upon entering the room. Closing and locking the door behind him, he plucked it from the floor, smoothing it a little before unfolding the small sheet of parchment.

_Your brother is no longer safe in Asgard, if you do not wish to lose him I suggest you act now. Not even the mighty All-father can defy Eir's commands._

Not even a signature to suggest who had sent the warning, but if this was true and with his father in his current mood Thor did not doubt it was, he would have to act fast. Eir would have headed straight for Odin's chambers to give him a check over, to ensure the king's health, which meant Thor would have to act now, no time to pack, no time to come up with a proper plan.

Grabbing his hammer and gently lifting his brother, he swung Mjorlnir preparing to take to the sky, when a sudden thought popped into his mind. He instead took to Loki's chambers, scanning the room for the object he seeks, spotting the small intricately carved sphere hidden among books and scrolls on his brother's desk.

Thor picked the silver device from the desk, sliding his thumb over the activation rune carved in its side. There was a small click as the sphere twisted across the center, the top half shifting and reshaping itself to fan out to create an intricately woven dome. Though it could not be seen in the room bathed by the light of the setting sun, Thor knew it now projected a glittering array of stars. Painting the room in the soft glow of a distant galaxy of stars, as a familiar tune sung. The tune his brother used to listen to at night to help him sleep after awaking from bad dreams. He listen for a moment before closing it and safely attaching it to his belt, so as not to lose it, before once again taking to the sky this time in the direction of the Bifrost.

"Heimdall!" He called upon landing at the end of the bridge, "Heimdall, I must travel to Midgard immediately." He said as he entered into the Bifrost's observatory. He had considered going to Alfheim, as Eir had said that they had healers that specialised in the mind, but soon reconsidered, should Odin demand Loki's return the Elves would surely hand him over, being close allies with the Asgard and all.

Then he had remembered Jane suggesting he speak with someone, after everything that happened during the convergence, and Darcy had explained when they had found Eric he was in a psychiatric ward. A place for crazy people, she had said, before insisting that he wasn't that crazy, the whole Tesseract and Chitauri invasion had just missed his head up a little. Jane had assured Thor that Eric was recovering and that he was seeing a professional for help, so Thor decided he'd be better off trying to find his brother's aid there, he was sure Jane would be willing to aid them.

The gatekeeper's eyes instantly moved to Loki as Thor moved into position, "Send the two of us back to Jane, please." Thor said, hoping he would not have to argue with his friend too much longer than need be, he had no time to waste. "The All-father has yet to cast orders, so this is not yet treason." He pleaded, he had already asked much of the gatekeeper in recent times.

Much to Thor's surprise Heimdall gave no argument, instead walking to the observatory's centre and thrusting his sword into the mechanism to open the Bifrost's path.

"Thank you." Thor nodded, as the beam drew him in.

His surrounding when the Bifrost's blinding beam faded, however, was not what he was expecting. Instead of the small rooftop of Jane's lovely little apartment in London, he stood in the cool night air, smack centre of Stark tower's landing pad. Lights flashing, alarms blaring and a half asleep Bruce Banner and a half armoured Tony Stark standing by the door, Tony's armor building itself around him as the seconds passed.

"You can stop now, Jar. He hardly looks to be a threat." Tony waved over his shoulder, lifting his face piece, "Loki alert." The engineer shrugged.

Bruce wrung his hands nervously, trying not to hulk out, before they knew what was going on. Hadn't Thor said Loki had been killed, though the deathly pale being in Thor's arms looked like death, Bruce was certain he could see a soft rise and fall of his chest from where he stood.

"I though he was dead?" Tony blurted, always one to say the most inappropriate things, but hey someone had to do it. His eyes widened a little as he waved his hands in front of him, "No, no no, you had better not be trying to bring a corpse into my tower. That has got to be some sort of bad juju."

"Juju?" Thor's brows pinched in confusion, quickly shaking it off as Loki's thin frame shivered in his arms, "My brother lives." He said, voice quivering a little as emotions threatened to overflow, "For so long I was certain he was gone, but he lives. He is not well though, he is ill and injured, and I fear he is no longer safe in Asgard. I cannot lose him, not again."

"Is he unconscious?" Bruce asked, looking over Thor's unnaturally pale brother, cringing as he took in the god's abused, bandaged chest.

"Nay, our head healer Eir has placed him in a healing sleep, he should remain asleep for at least two weeks, if not longer, his body is in dire need of rest. Apparently he has not been doing a very good job of caring for himself." Thor explained.

"An induced coma, then." Bruce mused to himself, turning back to Thor, "We should get him settled someplace safe, and I can grab some of the equipment from MED bay and set up some monitors, IV and a nasogastric tube, he looks like he could use a feed." He suggested.

"How about we set him up a nice cushy bed in one of the containment rooms down stairs, I'm sure if it can hold the Hulk, keeping Loki contained shouldn't be an issue." Tony agreed, waving his friends to follow as he led the way.

* * *

"Now, how about you tell us what's going on, how is Loki suddenly alive again and why is Asgard no longer an option?" Tony asked, pouring himself and Thor a glass of scotch, the blonde brute looked like he could use one, as the three gathered in the common living room after getting Loki set up.

"I know not how Loki still lives." Thor said, shaking his head, as he took a seat in the lounge, Bruce and Tony seated across from him. "His magic must have kicked in to heal the wound or perhaps his dying was but an act, but the wound, the blade through the chest, that was real the scar still remains. He must have made his way back to the palace after I had left with Jane to get back to Midgard. He took to the throne under the guise of the All-father, I hadn't realised at the time, that it was Loki I spoke with after the battle, not father."

"Makes sense, how were you to know it was one of your brother's tricks and not your father, you had believed him dead after all." Bruce nodded.

"But it is so obvious now, when I think back on it. I should have known, he let me leave, let me turn down the throne and return to Midgard, he let me follow my heart. I had not thought myself ready to claim the throne yet. Father wouldn't have been so understanding, he'd never had let me return to Midgard, when I should be watching over my own people. He did not approve of Jane, he even compared her to a goat at one point, he'd have never let me return to spend time with her." Thor frowned, how had he missed that at the time.

"As you know I have been spending much of my time with Jane when I was not aiding you. Then suddenly Sif, one of my friends from Asgard, shows up claiming Loki lives and has stolen the throne. I did not believe her words at first and yet when I arrived home, there he was, alive and breathing. Loki taunted and I swung my hammer, and well... You've seen the outcome, then when I refused to kill him, he..." Thor trailed off, unable to speak the words - kill himself - out loud, in Asgard, it was seen as weak and cowardly to take one's own life, and he refused to see his brother as such.

"Wait, wait, are you saying that the wound in Loki's abdomen, he did that himself." Tony gaped in disbelief. Well, that was completely unsuspected, given the prideful, self obsessed diva that stood in his tower a year and a half ago.

"He really isn't well is he." Bruce stated, he himself had hit that low, had tried to end it all, not a good place to be and certainly not an easy place to climb back from.

"Aye," Thor replied solemnly, "Eir believes he is in need of a healer of the mind, Asgard's healers are trained in the healing of the body not the mind. I recalled Jane mentioning people who specialise in helping with matters of the mind, so I brought him here in hopes of helping to heal him."

"Yeah, sure, that is if we can even find someone willing to go near the guy. He did try to take over the world and all, no sane person would dare go anywhere near your brother, let alone close enough to actually talk to him." Tony retorted sarcastically.

"We will do our best to track down a professional capable of helping Loki." Bruce assured, "In fact, there was one woman who offered to help me out once, fully aware of the hulk issue, I turned her down. After the whole Harlem incident I was a little wary of getting too close to others. I can try and track her down if you want? She might be willing to try to sort through Loki's issues."

"That would be most appreciated." Thor nodded back before slumping forward with a saddened look, "I promise if we bring too much trouble to your realm I shall take him elsewhere, I do not wish to cause your people further anguish." He stated.

"You think he might go crazy villain on us again?" Tony asked, swirling around what was left of his drink.

"I dare not try to assume what Loki is or isn't capable of in this state of mind, but I was more referring to interference from Asgard. Farther is furious over what has transpired, I received warning that Loki may no longer be safe in Asgard, which is one of the reasons I did not wait until he had healed more before bringing him here. I fear the warning correct, that in Odin's current state he may just be furious enough to order Loki's death. He had threatened it after all, when I had first found him, before he had realised it was me and not my brother."

"Then I guess we should keep his staying here on the down low." Tony stated grimly. He and Bruce both understanding how devastating it would be for the thunderer to have to suffer his brother's death again, and Tony was sure even the slippery trickster would not be able to survive an Asgardian execution.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony stood on the outside of the containment room Loki lay in, watching the god sleep, Bruce had removed the tubes and machines he had hooked up to Thor's brother early the day before. Loki had been in the tower a little over a week now, just laying there asleep the rise and fall of his chest and steady beeping of machines the only sign that he was even still alive. Then yesterday the god had begun to move just little twitches here and there, but Bruce had decided it was safe to remove the equipment - better to do it while he sleeps than try and remove it when he was awake and agitated. After all, who wouldn't be annoyed waking up with a fucking tube down their throat, so now Loki lay in there looking less like a coma patient and more like he was just sleeping.

It was strange seeing him like this, he didn't look nearly as dangerous and deranged - he could do with a proper hair cut though, neaten up those jagged ends, should have thought of that before the guy was on the verge of waking - to think the lie-smith was still only a kid. He had almost choked on his drink when Thor had explained that Loki was the Asgardian equivalent of seventeen year old, something that would have been nice to know when they were fighting his brother. Fighting him when he had brought the invasion, he just seemed somehow older. No doubt the trickster's magic and armour likely had some role in that, after all it would be rather hard to take threats of world domination seriously when the big baddie is a kid. And boy did he look so much smaller and fragile without the layers of leathers and the long gold horns.

They had all fought a kid, a kid with several hundred years over them, but still. Hell, Hulk had used the kid as a wreaking ball to demolish the pent house floor, space Viking or not Bruce must be hating himself now, knowing how young Loki is. Then again Loki was an army wielding psychotic hell bent on enslaving humanity kid... Who as it turns out really does have a bag full of cats inside that head of his and most likely should have been given help years ago. Yep, Bruce would certainty be hating himself right now. Not that any could blame the Hulk at least the big green guy managed to stop Loki.

Still only seventeen, and already Loki had brought death and destruction to two worlds, well brought destruction to three including the damage done to Asgard's rainbow bridge, and faked his own death twice. The worst Tony had achieved at seventeen was totalling two separate cars each worth well over eighty grand and catching crabs. Which in Tony's opinion was far worse than the cars even if one of the accidents landed him in hospital for two weeks.

"You do not realise just how lucky you are that there is a wall between us." The sudden voice had Tony jumping backwards as Loki suddenly appeared right in his face, up against the glass. "Now, that's what I like to see. You fear me, as you should."

Tony tries to blink off the sudden shock, holding his chest as he tries to calm his heart rate. Calming down a little as Loki just stood there with that crazed smile of his in place as Tony attempted to brush it off.

"Seeing that mug of yours up close and personal would have anyone reeling."

Loki chuckled at this, his smile turning to a sneer, "You'd not be half as cocky had this wall not been between us. We'll see if you are as smug once I am free of this... Cell," he said, looking around the room, he was confined in, "and trust that I will be. And I'll make sure you are not wearing those pretty little bracelets of yours this time I throw you out of your own window." He threatened.

His face scrunching a little, before he looked back over his shoulder.

Tony moved to stand on his toes to look over the mad god's shoulder to see what had captured his attention, but the trickster disappeared with a flicker just as fast as he had appeared in the first place, leaving Tony with a clear view of what the demi-god had been looking at. There on the cot at the back of the room, propped up on his elbows, blinking slowly and looking more than a little dazed sat Loki.

Okay, that was a little weird. Had he just been chatting with one of Loki's illusions?

Tony quietly told Jarvis to inform Bruce and Thor that Loki had awoken, while Loki held his head, wincing as he sat up, his hand moving to his bandaged chest and abdomen. The god seemed confused at first his brows pinching as he looked down at himself before turning his head to the side to face the front of the room as Thor and Bruce's footsteps drew his attention.

"Ah, now it makes sense." Loki rasped, clearing his throat as he turned his attention to Thor. "Can you do nothing right?"

"Loki, please-"

"You are too soft Odinson," Loki spat cutting the god of thunder short, his head was pounding and he had no intentions of listening to Thor's insistent pleas to help him, the fool had the chance to help him when they fought in the throne room, but he blew it. Could he not see that begging to have his old brother back was not helping. "How are you to rule over Asgard when you let your enemies walk all over you?"

"You are not my enemy, Loki." Thor insisted.

"I'm sure your mortals disagree." Loki huffed, scrunching his eyes shut as he held his forehead in discomfort.

"I really don't think all this arguing is going to do anyone any good, Loki is obviously still in need of rest." Bruce intervened, trying his best to usher Thor and Tony towards the lift. "I'll come back and check on you once you've had more rest, and hopefully you will be in a better mood." He said as the lift doors pinged open, getting nothing but a snarl in reply.

_"Pathetic is it not, to have fallen so low as to be caged by mere mortals." Loki's_ double's voice sounded in his head. "'_This is one fight I won't lose.' Ha! You do not look like a victor to me."_

Loki rolled to his side, doing his best to ignore his other's words. He still felt tired despite the fact he had obviously been in a healing sleep, the headache and overall lethargicness of his body, a bit of a give away. Besides, he was once again locked away on Midgard, only this time a different cell, but still there was little of interest in the plain rather empty room, so there was little more to do than sleep anyhow._  
_

Loki continued to spend the majority of the next three days dozing, Bruce had felt a little concern that the demi-god would still be so tired after a week of induced rest. Though he had been drinking and eating - even if he had only picked a little at the meals they gave him, at least he was getting something inside of him. Bruce did fear, however, that he might have to intervene if the Asgardian didn't start eating more. The boy was unhealthily under weight as is, the last thing he needed was to lose more.

He had been relatively quiet and calm during the moments when he was awake, though Thor's presence still tended to rile him. Which was part of the reason Bruce had decided to brave giving the god a quick check up, by himself, without the aid of Thor or Tony. Hoping that the non spoken threat of the green beast lurking within him might be enough to persuade Thor's brother to behave himself.

He should have known better.

As soon as Bruce entered the room, Loki had sat up, calmly swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He had announced his intentions before entering so at first he had just assumed the youth to be getting ready for Bruce to examine him.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but I think it would be best if you just sat still. The other guy is a little on edge and I'm sure neither of us want him coming out for a visit." Bruce said a little nervously, trying to ensure Hulk stay locked away inside. The sudden awareness that lit dulled green eyes only added to his unease.

"The beast wants out?" Loki asked, straightening a little in his spot as he watched the man in front of him. Bruce mistaking Loki's sudden tense posture as that of fear that the creature that had defeated him last time may decide to do so again, he tried to reassure the teen.

"Don't worry, he won't be coming out, as long as you don't aggravate him too much. So just-" his words were cut short as Loki suddenly sprung from the bed, grabbing him with surprising force for someone in such bad shape, and slamming him into the Hulk proof clear wall.

"Like this?" Loki asked with a twisted smile, grabbing Bruce by the neck. "Does this anger the beast."

_No_, Bruce thought, how had he been so stupid. He should have known better, he should have seen this coming. "Jarvis - Jarvis, get Tony." He called urgently - Thor having left for Jane's that morning to update her on what had happened since Sif had come and retrieved him.

It was not so much his safety he worried about, but Loki's.

"You look pale, Banner." Loki goaded, giving his arm a painful twist.

"S-stop... Ah... Loki, stop." Bruce groaned, clenching his teeth as he tried to hold the Hulk back, sweat slickening his brow as he strained to keep the furious beast at bay.

"Come, let him play." Loki grinned, as Bruce's skin took on a greener tinge, the man letting out a half growled moan as he doubled over. Pleased to see the beast was winning the struggle, as he knew his own strength was running out, the strain and exhaustion of the past few months taking its toll.

Loki was pushing himself and Bruce knew it, the raven haired god was practically panting now and his eyes were losing their focus, he just needed to keep control a little longer. Taking his chance as the trickster's hold weakened, Bruce twisted out of the demi-god's grip and bolted for the door, just as the elevator pinged.

"Bruce you okay?!" Tony cried as he rushed out of the elevator, to find his friend pinned by Loki inside the trickster's cell. Breaking free of Loki's hold moments later and dashing out of the cell, straight past Tony and into the room to Tony's right. Tony almost jumped as the Hulk slammed his fists against the indestructible pane of the containment cell Bruce had entered, with a roar.

That would explain the call for help.

Looking back to Thor's brother, he found Loki sitting half flopped on the floor looking strangely defeated.

"Jarvis, I think Hulk needs a little stress relief." Tony said, watching as Hulk roared in his face from the other side of the barrier, looking over towards Loki before pounding his fists against the wall to the small partition that joined the two containment cells. Parts of the floor in the Hulk's cell shifted as an old couch, and a few other random bits of furnishings raised in the room, an oversized punching bag lowering itself from the ceiling.

Needless to say Hulk had a ball, tearing the room apart, tossing and smash everything he got his hands on. The room was littered with broken furniture, soft foam and sand by the time Bruce had finally taken back control. Afterwards both he and Tony headed back upstairs, leaving Loki in his position on the floor.

* * *

"Seriously, what were you thinking?" Tony stressed, at the sheer stupidity of Bruce's earlier actions. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

"I don't think his intention was to cause me too much harm." Bruce replied, taking a sip of his Tea.

He was still feeling a little shaken by the whole ordeal, even after he had changed and made a fresh cup of green tea before taking a seat on one of Stark's lounges. Though it was mostly due to the fact that he hadn't even considered that outcome, but he should have. After seeing for himself the amount of damage the demi-god had aimed at himself in Asgard, when he had changed the dressings on Loki's wounds.

"Well that's not how it looked on my end."

"He was looking to harm himself, Tony. He was encouraging Hulk to come out. Taunting him, just as he had taunted Thor in Asgard before turning his own dagger on himself. Don't you see, he is suicidal, he wants to die." Bruce said, shaking his head with a sigh. "Thor is right, Loki most certainly does need help."

"Well, damn." Was all Tony could seem to say, after all how the hell is anyone supposed to respond to that. Seeing the worry in Bruce's eyes, and knowing that the physicist / -though not officially, on the medical side of things- Doctor, had already foolishly taken it upon himself to see Loki as a patient. He knew he shouldn't have let the man spend so much time tending to the injured god while he slept.

"Look, don't stress. Between the two of us I'm sure we can find someone insane enough to work through Loki's issues."

* * *

Tony had posted an advertisement the following day reading: _Looking for a highly trained psychiatrist willing to put their life on the line to help an extremely dangerous and troubled youth_. And surprisingly by the time Thor had returned from Jane's two days later they had received five replies, one of which, according to Bruce was the lady that had offered to help him, with his Hulk issues. The two super brains had spent a whole day trying to track her down only to have her reply to their advertisement before they had managed to finish dialling her number.

After his attempt to coax out the Hulk, Loki had fallen silent, he ignored anyone who came down to see him, refusing to speak even to Thor. Whenever any of them went down to pay a visit, Loki would just roll onto his side, turning his back to them, and just lay there without a word. It was a little unsettling, really.

"Not her." Thor stated, grabbing one of the files off the table and tossing it in the waste basket beside him. Tony had dug up the personal folio's of each applicant, along with Photo ID. "Her resemblance is too close to that of our mother, she would only cause him further distress."

"Noted. No daddy look a likes I hope, no way that would end well." Tony said, wondering just what the all mighty lord of the Norse gods might look like. No doubt huge, strong and hairy.

"Nay, but I do not think my brother would feel as comfortable speaking of his troubles with some random male." Thor pointed out.

He had hoped Bruce may have been able to see to his brother, even if he was a man, Thor trusted his friend, he did not know any of these mind healers and therefore could not know if they were trustworthy or not. Unfortunately, Bruce had insisted that he was not the best choice, and had worried that Loki might try to coax his other half out again.

"And the males are off the table." Tony said, sweeping the two folders off the table with his hand, letting them clutter to the floor. "It's kind of like a game of Guess who. Dose our lady wear glasses?"

Thor's face scrunched in confusion at Tony's words.

"Ignore him." Bruce waved, "So it would seem we are down to Mrs Kelly Flennegan and Miss Sumi Tenko."

"I would rather have someone I know I can trust." Thor sighed, "Please, I know you worry over losing control, but I would feel much more at ease knowing he is with someone I trust. What if he causes these people harm, what if they attempt to bring him harm for what he did here, or spread word of his presence." He worried.

"I understand your worry for your brother, I do. But I really don't think I would be the best choice. This really isn't my area of expertise, I'm not a therapist, it's not in my training." Bruce apologised hoping to get through to the persistent god this time. Thor just would not let up, and he had tried explaining to the thunderer that he wasn't a healer, not a trained one at least. But it was getting harder to turn down the desperately persistent god.

"Come now Brucey, you didn't do too bad with our little session." Tony joked, giving Bruce an elbow to the ribs.

Bruce inwardly groaned at his big mouthed friend's words, great, how could he deny Thor now after Tony had mentioned he had helped him out. Which hadn't even gone that well in the first place, he had fallen asleep during Tony's rambling after all. But seeing Thor's hopeful face turn dejected as he realised that Bruce had helped Tony, but was refusing to aid him, was just too much. He couldn't help one friend and not another. So giving Tony a quick glare that promised some form of payback - he didn't know what just yet, but he would think of something - he turned to Thor.

"Fine," he relented. "Fine, but I can't promise anything."

* * *

It wasn't going we'll. It had been almost a week since Bruce had caved into playing therapist to Thor's kid brother, he had gone down to the containment floor everyday and sat there outside Loki's cell, but Loki still remained ignorant to the world around him. When he had first gone down and told Loki that he would be visiting so that Loki could talk if he wanted, anything at all, it didn't have to be about anything in particular just anything he might want to say, he had expected snark, but so far the Norse godling had yet to say a word.

Well, Loki himself hadn't, his double did make a brief appearance during his last session, barking remarks about how pathetic the mortals were and throwing threats around. Bruce had left that one early, he probably shouldn't have though, even though Loki seemed preoccupied in his own silence, staring off into space and tuning out everyone else's presence. For all he knew, this apparition could be some strange way for Loki to talk without talking, and he had promised to listen to Loki's words. So the first thing he had done upon entering today was apologise for walking out, promising not to do it again.

"Some days I just can't help but feel as though I want to just Hulk out and smash my fist right into his face. I know he is probably the best friend I have ever had, but honestly the man can be so frustratingly childish at times." Bruce finished with an exasperated sigh, he had tired of the silence and figured if Loki wasn't going to talk he would.

Besides, he really needed to vent, Tony had been harassing him all morning. Loki did send a quick glance his way, and a rather non threatening one at that. Though whether the god was acknowledging his words or just subtly showing his annoyance at his babbling, Bruce wasn't sure.

It was a further two weeks of silence with Bruce randomly talking about one thing or another about nothing in particular on occasion to try and break it. The thought of giving up -they would never get anywhere with Loki if the boy didn't want to try- had crossed his mind a few times, but seeing Thor's hopeful face each time he came back up from one of his one sided sessions, always managed to dismiss those thoughts. Then Loki finally said something. Not much, little more than a sentence, but it was a start.

"I thought maybe change would do me good, so I cut it." Loki said, giving the end if his hair a not so gentle yank, as he continued to stare blankly at the wall across the room. "Turns out it wasn't the hair I hated."

And this was why he wasn't a therapist, well, one of the reasons. How was he supposed to respond to that, pressuring him to explain further or continuing talking might just cause him to close up and he worried Loki might take sympathy as pity and become angry or annoyed. So instead he offered something he hoped Loki would take as a kindness.

"I could neaten it for you. Your hair that is, if you wanted. Even out the ends." He suggested, gaining a Loki's attention. "Thor has some cuffs he said will block your magic, you would have to wear them while I cut it and either Tony or your bro- Thor," Bruce corrected, last time Loki was on earth he seemed rather determined to claim the two of them were not brothers. "Would have to be present. Sorry, but after that little trick you pulled last time I entered your cell, I need to take precautions to help ensure both our safety. But if you'll agree, I'll gladly give you a trim."

Bruce watched the young god in silence for a minute or two as Loki thought it over, he was just beginning to think Loki had gone back to ignoring him when he nodded his approval

* * *

He should have seen it coming. He should have seen it and yet he still fell for the mortals trap. One of the simplest tricks in the book, and he had fallen for it hook line and sinker. Loki used to use such tactics when he was as young as six to trick his big brother into agreeing into doing things he'd rather not. And the constant mocking and belittlement from his other self was not helping the matter. He was already well aware of how stupid and foolish he had been.

Sure his hair was neat once again, much better than the mess he had created when he had hacked at it with one of his throwing knives during one of his... Episodes. But know his magic was bound, locked away within him, by the Hel forsaken metal bands around each of his wrists. He hated them, hated not being able to use his magic. The worst part was he couldn't even complain because he had foolishly agreed to having them put on. Honestly he shouldn't have been surprised when Bruce and Tony had left without removing them, or even the next day, or one week later, after all Bruce hadn't mentioned removing them afterwards when striking the bargain.

Thor had left straight after he'd clamped them over his wrists not wanting to over crowd him. Thankfully, as Thor's presence in the room whilst he himself was so powerless with his magic sealed, had only made him want to lash out more.

And so he had chosen to once again ignore the mortal man as he sat on the outside of the cell trying to play healer. It was childish he knew, but he didn't care. He was tired of always trying to be the adult, constantly being the rational and mature one was exhausting. Even if he was rather certain all rationality flew out the window several years ago.

"You have been silent all week, ever since I cut your hair for you." Bruce sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Have I done something to further upset you? I had hoped we were starting to get somewhere."

Loki just snorted in reply, not even granting the man so much as a sideways glance. Had he done something to upset him? Was that not obvious. How would he like it if he had part of himself sealed away out of reach.

"You've barely eaten even half a meal this entire week. I'm getting concerned Loki, we all are. If you don't start eating more soon I'm afraid I'll be forced to feed you through a tube, and trust me, that will not be pleasant." Bruce stressed, he had no idea where he had messed up. He thought he was doing Loki a favour by neatening his hair up for him, Loki had seemed up to it, but now he was back to ignoring both Bruce's attempts to help and his own needs.

_"Can you not see little Loki is sulking." _Loki's double laughed, having chosen to come out for a while. "_Though I see not why, it rarely worked when he was little." _He said before taking a slightly crueller tone, "_But I suppose not all of us are smart enough to learn not to rely on tactics that are proven to fail."_

Bruce's brows furrowed, as he noticed the flicker of irritation that flashed through Loki's eyes at the other's words. He wasn't entirely sure what this other thing was, if Loki drew it out himself, if the god had it taunt him purposely or if it was something he had no control over. But whatever it was, Bruce did not particularly like it, it was rather detrimental to Loki's mental health. How was he supposed to get better with this thing constantly putting him down.

And how was it even here to begin with, surely whether it was here with or without Loki's consent, it must have been conjured through magic. Loki wore the cuffs now to prevent him using his magic, for both his own protection and their own. So how was this thing still summoning itself.

_"He is upset, for falling for such a blaringly obvious trick, he feels betrayed." _The illusion Loki scoffed as he paced the cell, leaning over Loki with a wicked grin as he said. "_Though I cannot fathom how he ever got the idea you or anyone else cared, even a little. It is hardly betrayal if there is not trust to betray in the first place."_

"Shut up." Loki hissed barely above a whisper.

"_I on the other hand." _He said evenly as he straightened himself, walking over to the glass wall separating them and Bruce._ "I would have never fallen for such pathetic tricks, I'd have killed all three of you before the barbaric oaf had even got one cuff upon my wrist."_

"Shut up, shut up!" Loki growled louder this time as he grabbed a fistful of hair with both hands, pulling his knees to his chest.

"I'm sorry," Bruce apologised, standing and walking forwards until he was at the hulk proof glass separating them. Ignoring the other Loki completely as he addressed the one curled up on the bed. "It was not my intention to trick you, you had agreed to comply, I hadn't thought to keep them on you, but... Well, it was put to the vote and in the end it was decided it may be best to leave them on. Thor feared you magic might not be stable in you current state."

"Ah, of course, Thor always knows best, does he not." Loki snorted back, uncurling himself and turning a snarl towards Bruce. "Perhaps you could send my dear _brother_ down here, so I may thank him personally for ramming a dagger in my back."

"It was not your brother's intention to hurt or upset you, Loki. He only worries for your safety." Bruce offered, hoping to help Loki see his brother just wanted to help him. Thor had honestly meant no harm. The god's double gave a laugh as he flickered out, disappearing again.

_"Perhaps he'll have us chained to the bed next, have us restrain completely."_

"He is worried, Loki. He is afraid he might lose you again." Bruce insisted.

"I care little of his concerns. And I care less for your company, now leave." Loki hissed turning his back on the man, giving a silent sigh of relief when he heard Bruce step into the lift. How could his brother possibly think taking his magic from him would do anything but hurt him, Thor knew more than any how much it meant to him, how vulnerable he felt with out it.

* * *

"Going that good, huh?" Tony said as he found Bruce hunched over his tea at the kitchen counter, rubbing at his lingering headache.

"If moving backwards meant progress, I'd be working wonders." Bruce replied with a groan, "I really don't think this is helping, we really should have a professional seeing to him."

"Try telling Thor that." Tony rolled his eyes, the thunderer was honestly too damned protective and possessive of his brother, Loki was a big boy now surely he could handle being around strangers. "He said himself Asgard's head healer thinks Loki needs a mind healer and he still refuses to accept one."

"You know, your little outburst of me helping you out didn't help things any." Bruce sighed in frustration, "Now he is convinced I'm qualified for this job. Hell, I couldn't even stay awake during your ramblings, how on earth am I supposed to help somebody with so many issues they tried to enslave an entire planet."

They both fell into silence after that, after all, even Tony knew his friend was in way over his head and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He really shouldn't have given Thor the idea that Bruce had the potential to fix his brother, not that he thought Bruce didn't have potential. Bruce had loads of potential and he was sure the guy was capable of anything he set his mind too, but all in all, he didn't have the training or the practice in this area of expertise and forcing Bruce in the deep end like that was kind of a dick move.

The man still could have refused though. No, of course he couldn't, Tony knew Bruce wasn't the type to help one friend and not do the same for another. So when Thor had been given the impression that Bruce had helped him out with this sort of thing their was no way Bruce could say no to Thor. But Tony couldn't help it, he was nosey and he just had to know what was going on inside the dark prince's messed up head and he knew a professional would never diverge that sort of information, patient doctor confidentiality and what not. He had forgotten Bruce loved to play doctor and therefore had insisted upon the same rules, refusing to tell Tony anything more than if he believed the session went good, bad, or nowhere. He wouldn't even let Jarvis record the sessions, and his damned AI had insisted on complying when Tony had told him to pull up a live feed anyway. Ending up deciding not to force it, not wanting Bruce mad at him.

"Hey, you managed to get Loki to willingly let us put magic restrictors on him." Tony reassured his friend with a half shrug, "You can't be doing to bad."

"Don't give up huh." Bruce shook his head with a small smile.

* * *

Bruce exited the elevator and sat in his place in the large chair outside Loki's room, he was a little later then usual today. He, Tony and Thor had spent the morning down town taking out a couple of thugs who had scored themselves some rather powerful tech. As Steve and most of the gang still weren't really on speaking terms with Tony, or he wasn't speaking to them. Bruce had kind of missed whatever it was that went down between them, neither Tony or Vision had really talked about it and he never really took notice of what was said on the news as they always blew everything out of proportion.

So he wasn't in the mood for sitting in silence with a sulky, moody teenage, mentally unstable demi-god, for the next two hours. They were not going to get anywhere if Loki wasn't going to talk and patiently waiting for Loki to open up didn't seem to be working. It was time for him to start pushing.

"Okay, Loki, is there anything in particular you might want to talk about today? Because if not I'm going to start throwing out questions, because we really aren't getting anywhere at the moment." he stated.

Loki merely narrowed his eyes in response, Bruce sighed, of course Thor's brother wasn't going to make this easy. He was just about the start with his first question, when movement behind the distorted glass that partitioned off the containment rooms bath area caught his eye.

Tony had wanted to make sure anyone contained in the cell could be seen at all times, so rather then building in private bathrooms, the wet area was just blocked from view of onlookers outside the cell by distorted glass that let you see only the prisoners blurred shape. The sound of water running down a drain echoed throughout as Loki stepped out from behind the glass, wearing nothing but a pair of loose fitting black cotton pants, with a towel in his hands as he dried his hair.

The mischief god paused when he spotted Bruce, quickly pulling the towel down to cover his marred chest. Though Bruce wasn't sure why, he had seen it just the previous day when he had removed the stitches in Loki's abdomen, they'd have been removed a lot earlier but Loki had managed to reopen the wound during a struggle the first time Thor had entered his cell. His distraught brother had not entered the room since in fear of causing Loki further harm. Not to mention Jarvis had caught Loki prodding at the wound a few times, though Bruce suspected it was the kid's way of reassuring himself that, yes, he could feel.

He repeated what he had said once Loki had seated him self on the bed. Realising he had been speaking with Loki's double at first, and he had no idea if the real Loki was able to hear through his illusion or what. Hell, he wasn't even sure if this double was just an illusion or something else completely.

"Perhaps I don't care for things to change?" Loki scoffed back, not liking that the man was looking to try and pry now. "I am here because my bro- not brother brought me here, not by will."

"You didn't expect to end up here did you? You honestly thought you'd be dead, that Thor would kill you." Bruce question. How the boy could have thought Thor could ever do such a thing was far beyond him, how could Loki not see how much Thor cared for him? Even now after he had caused the thunderer so much pain.

Loki refused to reply.

"You cannot be happy like this, Loki. You obviously aren't, don't you want to get better?" Bruce asked, "To have your life back? To get back to how things were before?"

Bruce regretted his last sentence as soon as the words left his mouth, it came out wrong, was worded poorly. And the way both Loki and the double seemed to close up completely, eyes dark and body language screaming that their talk was over for the day, just proved to further prove his mistake. He was glad that Loki was wearing the cuffs, he was sure god's magic would have flared dangerously had he still been able to use it. He himself would have most likely Hulked out and crushed the skull of anyone who had dared suggest that to him back when he had hit that low.

Of course Loki didn't want to go back to how things were. How life was before obviously wasn't a good place for him, he wouldn't be where he was today if he had been happy before. And he had stupidly suggested Loki look to get back there. How could he be so thoughtless. No. Loki didn't need to go back he needed new, a new perspective, a new life one where he was happy with how things were and who he was.

Bruce needed to find away to make progress without being sent back to start one his very next move.

He needed to look into ways to try and help Loki manage with what he was going through. Bruce had managed to pull through okay, after refusing help, though finding a friend with similar interests in Tony had helped. But Loki obviously wasn't coping by himself. Perhaps he should speak with Thor, find out a little more about Loki's upbringing, what he was like as a kid. And try and look into how Loki could spend the majority of his time sleeping, and yet his body still wasn't getting the rest it needed. All the kid did was sleep - which wasn't healthy in itself - and yet he looked as though he hadn't slept in days.

* * *

**AN: I had actually originally planned to go with a proper psychiatrist for Loki, and some have mentioned Prof X which had crossed my mind more than once, but then I wasn't sure whether I'd have to change to cross over fic or not. I had intended to go with a OC hence the quack hunt and actually coming up with two names, but I realised I'd end up with a lot of Loki and OC one on one time and not so much any Avengers and I've never been a big fan of OC's taking on a main role. So I decided against it.**

**I also worried I wouldn't have a believable psychiatrist as I don't really have a clue what they'd ask, say or do and after seeing poor Bruce at the end of Iron man 3 I just had to hand the role to him. That way we could both just struggle through. I also tend to gravitate towards Tony or Steve in fic's so it's a nice change focusing a bit more on Bruce a little more. I hope no one is too disappointed. Though there is still chance of one popping up later.**


	4. Chapter 4

"He was always quiet, preferred to keep to himself, he always kept his grievances and worries to himself." Thor sighed with a shake of his head, "I have never been good at understanding what was going on inside Loki's head, no one could."

"What about when he was still little, before his teen years?" Bruce asked, young children were always more open then others, and since it would seem that Thor and Loki both had very different interests growing up. It would seem the lack of common interest had kind of drawn a wedge between the two, though he wasn't entirely sure Thor had seen it.

"He was a whirlwind of mischief." Thor smiled, as he recalled the tiny boy who used to follow him around like a second shadow. "He was shy and often fell quiet around those he did not know, but when he was around those he was close to, he was always full of life. Usually in awe of one thing or another, if he wasn't sharing new found knowledge he was asking questions, seeking knowledge on any and all things that might pique his interest. He loved pranks and tricks, I was one of his favoured victims, most likely because he knew I'd share in his amusement.

I was Loki's Hero when he was little, he would follow me everywhere I went, there was hardly a moment I wasn't tripping over him every time I turned around. I would play with him whenever I had the time, we'd play with his carved figures or go on wild imaginary adventures." Thor's smile saddened a little, as he continued.

"I guess the age gap between us was a bit of an issue, when I was around the Midgardian equivalent of fifteen I wanted to be out hunting and exploring the woods and plains with my friends, instead I was playing pretend with my five year old brother. I guess as I grew older things slowly started to change, It started to become a nuisance when every time I turned Loki was right there, under my feet. And as ashamed as I am to admit, I was actually rather relieved when Loki grew older and lessons began taking up more of his time, leaving me more time to do as I pleased."

Thor, Tony and Bruce were all gathered around the kitchen island for breakfast, apparently Jane had turned Thor into a scrabbled egg master, he had served a plate heaped with eggs for each of them. And while Tony had noted the lack of onion and herbs, Thor had explain it was made so for Loki. Bruce was just glad for the food and coffee in front of him after spending most of the night on the internet trying to find helpful tips and ideas to help Loki. Luckily he had com across a few that seemed easy enough to accomplish and should help Loki in finding things other then napping to pass his days.

"Hey, everyone has moments when they just want to do their own things. Don't be too hard on your self." Bruce reassured with a friendly smile. "God knows, there are times when I wish Tony wasn't so persistent."

"I take offence to that buddy!" Tony cried in feigned hurt, "How could anyone ever tire of my presence."

"I grew selfish and arrogant as I got older. If I had just paid him more attention, tried a little harder to understand him." Thor lamented.

"Come on Blondie, no point dwelling on what you could have done. Its not going to get you anywhere, and the last thing we need is two depressed norse gods." Tony said, giving Thor a friendly slap on the back.

"Before my coronation he told me he loved me and never to doubt that love, and I just thanked him. I thanked him. I didn't say it back, I should have, but I was too embarrassed, I saw it as weakness. And I know now it was most likely a precaution, should I find out it was he who let the Jotnar in to disrupt the ceremony, but what if he was trying to reach out. If he had reached out and I just brushed him off." Thor slumped, tears gathering in his eyes.

"Tony is right Thor. I know you can't help but replay all the things you could or should have done in the past, but the past is jut that. The past. You cannot change it, you may not have told him back then, but you can tell him now. Instead of focusing on what you should have done start focusing on what you can do now." Bruce says.

"You are right, I'm sorry." Thor shakes his head, dwelling on the past is not going to help his brother. "So, how is Loki? Has his intake of sustenance improved?"

"It has not, unfortunately." Bruce says, "I have informed him that if he does not start eating more we will be forced to feed him via a tube. Not the most pleasant method of being fed."

"Perhaps it may help if we try serving him more of his favoured foods." Thor tried, "Loki has always been particularly fond of fish and other aquatic meats. He likes apple pie and most sweet breads, tarts and fruits, though he is quite averse to most vegetable."

"You know I think that might help." Bruce replied with a smile, "How about if you take charge of food prep, seeing as you know his preferences?"

Thor beamed at the idea of being able to physically do something to help in aiding his brother's recovery. "I am not well practiced in cooking but I shall do what I can."

"Sounds good, but if we are getting tasty deserts Loki isn't getting them all to himself. I am not missing out on pie." Tony joked from his seat.

"Haha, you may regret that decision yet friend as I said I am not the best at cooking." Thor laughed, before something dawned on him, causing his brows to crease. Actually he had noticed it the other night he just hadn't had time to voice his question before now.

"Where is everyone? I've not seen trace of the captain, Natasha or any of the others since arriving a week ago."

"They ah, they aren't exactly staying here anymore. Vision is back though, he got back last night according to Jarvis though he has been sulking in his room since. I'm guessing he didn't have much luck with Wanda." Tony answered.

"Did they have a falling out?" Thor asked, they were on good terms when he last spoke to them.

"Jesus Thor, a lot has happened since you left for Jane's after the whole Ultron mess. Do you not watch the news." Tony huffed in astonishment at how the thunder God seemed to miss that huge mess that pretty much tore the team apart. Thankfully it hadn't taken too long to track down Bruce's hiding place as after that catastrophe he had needed a friend more than ever.

"I was distracted with helping Jane." Thor admitted bashfully, embarrassed that he had managed to miss something that was obviously big by the sounds of it. Though in his defence most of his time was spent helping Jane with her new lab and the TV was usually playing on of Darcy's movies.

"Well long story short me and Steve aren't exactly besties anymore if fact I'm not exactly anyone's favourite person at the moment." Tony shrugged, exiting the room.

"I'll fill you in as best I can, I kind of missed it too. Though I think for now, just until Loki is a little better perhaps it's best we not tell Vision about his presence just yet." Bruce said, noticing Thor looked twice as confused after Tony's last sentence.

He didn't like the idea of keeping secrets especially from some one who was supposed to be part of the team but he wasn't sure how either Vision or Loki would react knowing of the others presence. Vision may not have been around during Loki's attack but he had certainly heard of him and considering how close Clint and Wanda were, he had probably heard quite a lot of bad things.

* * *

Bruce waited patiently for the lift to reach the floor containing the containment rooms, a box of supplies in his arms. Books, a sketch pad and activities to help give Loki something to focus on, to help pass time. It had been a six weeks now and not much had changed, he had been online and found a few ideas he hoped might help.

He was expecting the god to either be sleeping or sitting on his bed and making a point of ignoring him when he entered. What he hadn't been expecting was to have the elevator doors open to reveal Loki and his double in the midst of an argument, completely oblivious to the ping of the lift or Bruce's presence.

_"You can't go back! You can never go back to playing happy family!"_

"I didn't-" Loki tried to reply, arms wrapped protectively around himself, back to his copy and facing the back wall. Only to have the other talk over him, shouting right in his ear as he loom over him.

_"The only person who ever loved us enough to even try and play along with that pathetic fantasy is dead. We killed her!"_

"Stop," Loki pleaded, hunching in on himself further and covering his ears with his hands to try and block the copy out. "Please..."

The other Loki burst into laughter at Loki's attempts to block him out.

"_You think you can shut me out. You cannot block me out Loki, for I am you. I will always be here inside of you, in your mind. You will never escape me!'" _Snarling at Loki's persistence in trying to ignore him, he continued.

_"The difference is I am stronger, you are weak and tempted by sentiment. You are crumbling, I will not let you drag our body to ruin with you, let me take charge. I'll gain full control once you finally shatter anyhow and we both know it. I'll convince Odin's brainless son to remove the bands that bind our power and free us."_

"And then what!" Loki growled, grabbing the cup of the side table as he spun around and tossing it at the other, the plastic tumbler bouncing as it passed straight through the double and hit the floor. "Thor is the only protection I have! I'm already being hunted and now Odin wants me dead as well. No realm will have me, I'm lucky Thor even managed to convince his mortal friends to take me in."

_"We don't need him! I don't need him. I'll crush Thor's precious Avengers and take this realm, then use it to destroy our enemies!" _The copy shouted back.

Hearing the soft whimper that left Loki's throat at the doubles words, Bruce decided he should probably try and intervene. "I don't think you are in any shape to be defeating anyone in your current state." He injects, as he drops the box down beside his seat. Loki's double whirling around with a twisted grin.

_"Care to test that theory?" _He taunted, holding his wrists out in a silent dare for the doctor to remove the cuffs.

"Not particularly, but I'm certain the green guy would love to." Bruce tried, hoping mention of the Hulk might quiet the Loki copy down some. He certainly wasn't about to let Hulk anywhere near the cell of course.

Seeing Loki's - the real Loki, not the illusion's - eyes widen as he took a step back, however had him regretting his words.

The illusion let out a sharp amused laugh at Bruce's words. "_I do not fear your beast. It was this one your beast pounded into the floor." _he nodded back to Loki "_I would not be so easily defeated."_

He then turned, leaning over Loki as he spoke in a mocking voice._ "I suppose I should leave and let you and the sweet doctor continue your game of cure the crazy."_ Whispering in his ear, before vanishing once more._ "Let's hope he doesn't turn green."_

Bruce couldn't help but notice how exhausted and defeated the god looked as he sunk to the floor after the double had disappeared. It got him wondering just how often this double of his was around when the god was down here alone.

"Loki, I'm sorry I didn't really mean what I said about the Hulk just now. I honestly have no intentions of letting him out anywhere near you." He apologised. "What that thing said now, what did it mean when he said it was you and not him-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Loki's soft voice cut him short.

"I just... Okay, fine." Bruce conceded, "Can you at least tell me what it is? An illusion, a copy?" He tried.

Loki just shook his head.

"Your magic is sealed how are you-"

"I don't know!" the god growled back, "Quit pestering me about it."

Loki lowered his gaze, brow twisting from annoyed to confused as he noticed the box for the first time. "What is in the box?"

Bruce looked down at the box, he had actually forgotten about it. "Oh! That's right I brought you a few things. First, I got you a journal, you can write down all your thoughts, how you are feeling or even just what you did throughout the day. I've heard keeping a journal can be very therapeutic, it's also a good way to express yourself." He said as he pulled out an A5 book with a plane black leather cover.

"And you will wish to read this I suppose?" Loki huffed, eying the book cautiously.

"That would make it a great deal easier to understand what you are thinking and how you are feeling, though I doubt I'd be able to read your norse writing. But no. You can share it with me or keep it as private as you want, the choice is yours." He assured.

The point was to get the kid to start expressing and laying out his thoughts, rather then bottling them all away. So Bruce was more than happy to let Loki keep the journal private. He had read that keeping a journal was a good way to help relieve stress and get things off your chest.

"I also have a sketch pad here, some people find it easier to express themselves through drawing. Again it can be as open or private as you want it to be." Bruce smiled as he pulled the pad and a box of nontoxic crayons out of the box.

The god would have to deal with writing with the crayons as well, as he figured Loki wouldn't be able to do much damage to himself with child safe crayons.

"I also have a few puzzle books, you can work on to help pass the time. Let's see... I have a find a word book, Sudoku and where's Wally. Okay, it's more a find the said objects in the picture book than a puzzle, but it is pretty addictive."

At Loki's sceptical look Bruce continued. "Of course I'm not sure if you can read our script so I've asked Jarvis to help teach you, I have a few simple children's book here too, so you have something to practice with and if you have any questions or are unsure about anything, Jarvis is quite helpful."

Bruce then placed all of the stuff onto a plastic tray, typing a code into the access panel beside the door. The bottom of the door, slid to the side revealing a small slot just big enough for Bruce to slide the tray through before closing again.

* * *

Loki was sitting in the adjoining containment room, when Bruce came down two days after giving Loki the journal and activities. He had spoken with Tony about adding a couple of potted plants in there and a bench or something, to give Loki a slight change of scenery.

Tony of course being the show off he is, went all out. Instead of a bench and two or three small plants, he created and entire courtyard, using top quality astro turf, white pebble tiles for the path, an ornate bench and half a nursery of potted plants and flowers. He even set up a fish tank on the out side - not wanting to feel responsible for the slaughter of innocent fish - as a point of interest.

He had also set it up so the back wall of the adjoining room, show a projected image of a live feed of the view outside the common room windows. Bruce had insisted it would help the god keep track of the passage of time, being able to see out. He could see the wall from his own cell when he wasn't in the garden cell. Bruce thought it would help Loki with his sleep schedule, after arranging one with the god the previous day. Loki had agreed to give it a go, but had mentioned his difficulty in judging time whilst locked in a room with no windows.

He thought giving Loki the closest thing he could to a window without remodelling the building, would help. He figured it would be nicer being able to see it was getting dark and knowing it would be nine soon then just having Jarvis suddenly informing the god it was time for bed, in what could be the middle of the day as far as Loki knew.

Seeing Loki nestled among the plants, Bruce noticed that for the first time since he had first seen Thor's brother, Loki looked... Well he wouldn't go as far as to say happy, but somewhat a peace. He certainly seemed calm, as he scan the page of his Wally book. Sketchpad laying forgotten at his side, still open on the page he had obviously been drawing earlier. Though from where Bruce stood all he could see of the image was that it contained a lot of black.

Loki quickly closed the sketchpad when he noticed Bruce, shoving it behind his back and out of view.

"I told you that book was addictive." Bruce smiled, looking to the book on Loki's lap.

"Indeed it is. Though I still need ask Jarvis for visual representation of most things in here so I know what it is I should be looking for." Loki admitted.

"So have you written in your journal today?" He asked.

The young man tensed slightly, wearily looking up from the page with guarded eyes.

"You do not have to tell me what you've written in it. I was just curious, that's all." Bruce assured. Giving a sigh of relief as Loki relaxed again, the trickster seemed to be in high spirits today.

"A little this morning, though I usually add to it at in the evenings." He replied.

"You ready to put this routine sleeping into play?" Bruce asked.

"I have reframed from sleeping today thus far." Loki looked over his shoulder at the outside view on the wall behind him, "And it looks to be early afternoon, so I think I am doing rather well." He replied with a tired, almost smile.

Not quite reaching a smile but close to it.

"That's great. Though it is alright if you wish to go to sleep an hour or two before our agreed time, just as long as we try to keep it to the darker hours of the day." Banner told him, before saying. "And I am glad to see you are eating more, lately."

"Hmm."

"Feel free to tell me if you would like some more activities to keep you busy or if you have any suggestions of your own. I'll be more than willing to listen." Bruce said, getting momentarily distracted in the following silence by the brightly coloured fish swimming around their tank.

"I dreamt that I had won last night." Loki spoke suddenly, still looking at the book in his lap as he clarified. "The battle here, with the Chitauri. I was standing on top this tower. I had succeeded and you had all been defeated, all of you. I tried... I.. I couldn't find Thor, anywhere, and they... I was there, I had succeeded. He was so pleased, proud even, but I... I didn't, I thought I'd feel..."

He trailed off, looking up at Bruce momentarily, just a brief glance. But that mere few seconds was more then enough to catch the dulled look of fear in the god's eyes.

Bruce wondered just who it was Loki was speaking of, who was he? His father perhaps? Though that made little sense, surely his father would not be proud of such actions. So perhaps the Chitauri or one of their kind? Though from the tone of Loki's voice and all round body language, his dream victory had not left him feeling very victorious.

But Loki quickly waved it off with a shake of his head as his gaze dropped again.

"It was but a dream though, it matters little."

"Dreams can be rather unsettling at times, sometimes it helps to talk about them. Who did you mean by 'He' Loki?" Bruce pushed. Loki had shared this dream, that had obviously disturbed him, willingly. It was quite a big step forwards, and he hoped to keep it going.

"I am most grateful for what you have done here." Loki disregarded the question, changing the subject completely, as he gestured to the garden. "I appreciate the effort you and Stark have gone through to create this space for me. I know it is little deserved."

"Well, you haven't killed any of us yet. That's got to be worth something right." Bruce joked, deciding to let avoidance of his question slide as he became serious again. "We do genuinely want to help you Loki. As crazy as that might seem. Thor has spoken so fondly of how you were in your youth, and hearing how you were then, and seeing you during the invasion and then now. You are so different, every time we see you. It would be nice to see the real you. The Loki behind all the masks."

"Good luck with that," Loki laughed quietly, though there was no mirth in his voice. "I'm not even sure he exists."

"Of course he does!" Bruce insisted, "Perhaps he has just built up so many masks and walls to try and protect himself that he has become lost amongst them all. I am certain he is in there somewhere and I promise to try my best to help find him, but I cannot do it without your help, Loki. I can't help him find his way out if he doesn't want to be found."

"I try not to make promises I'm not certain I can keep." Loki sighed exhaustedly.

"I'm not asking for promises. Just that you try." Bruce replied.

* * *

Loki let out a frustrated growl, as he tore the page from his sketchpad, scrunched it up and tossed it across the room. The same. It was always the same. No matter whether he intended to draw something in particular or was just seeing where it goes, it always ended the same.

Dark spiralling emptiness.

The void.

The first few pages he had drawn when he first received the book had been spirals of heavy black. He had removed the black crayon, tucking it away in the drawer under the sink in the washroom, leaving only the various array of colours to work with but even that had proven to no avail. The rainbow of colours still managed to twist themselves into a thick mess, blending and mixing into each other to create the dark mass that littered the previous pages.

The fish had been there at one point, orange, yellow and blues. Though they could barely been seen, hidden beneath the horrid dark spiral. The worst part being he didn't even realise he was doing it, he had been so focused on getting the shape of the fish sporting the electric blue stripe, and next he look down there it was. Taunting him.

He was quarter way through the accursed book and so far it was nothing but spiralling black. It frustrated him to no end, why? Why, could his hand not draw what his mind was telling it. Or was that what his mind was telling it? No, he was pretty certain he was not thinking of the void any of those times... Or was he?

_"I say give up on drawing pretty pictures, it's rather obvious pretty isn't working for us."_ His double spoke as he flickered to life.

Not again.

"What, are you not going to mock and belittle me?" Loki replied cautiously.

_"Contrary to popular belief, I am not just here to make your life more miserable. You are more than capable of doing so yourself."_

"Thank you." Loki drawled back sarcastically.

_"By the nine, it is so dull in here. How can you stand it? Do you not want to destroy something just for some form of entertainment? How did I ever let you get us into this position? Bound and locked away, at our enemies mercy. I should have taken charge before this, before you stupidly decide to fix Asgard. Why are you refusing me? Give me the reigns, and I will get us out of here, out of this cage."_ The double insisted.

Turning back to Loki he finished. _"How hard could it be to sweet talk that dim-witted oaf of a brother. Play on his sentiments a little, I'd have us out of these cuffs in not time. We'd be free to go and do as we please."_

"Yes, well, despite what I may often claim, Thor is not completely brainless. He is a lot smarter than most give him credit and he is intent on fixing his _broken_ brother. He would not be so quick to risk me disappearing on him." Loki countered. Curling back against the wall, leaving one leg to dangle over the side of the cot.

_"Careful, one might mistake you for actually caring about him. We can't have that now can we? Not after you've devoted such determination into acting as though you'd rather him dead."_

"I'm safer here, Thor will not let harm befall me." Loki insisted.

_"Oh yes, your precious protector." _The copy scoffed, _"Your golden hero shall come to your rescue, just as he did when we were stuck upon that Chitauri infested rock. Oh wait, that's right, he didn't. He was quick to jump to the aid of his precious mortals when you came for the Tesseract, yet you were not worth his time when you needed him."_

Loki did not respond to that, how could he? The other spoke the truth and he knew it. He knew it had been a foolish thing to cling to, when he had been found by the Chitauri. When they had locked him away, when The Other had dragged him out in front of them and... He had been foolish, clinging to the childish hope that his big brother would come save him. Thor had no reason to of course, not after all he had done, but he could not help himself. When The Other had told him that Asgard's gatekeeper's gaze had found there home, he had been so certain that Thor would come for him. He hadn't of course, his brother had left him there.

So why had he worked so hard to insure Asgard would be thriving once again before his brother took the throne? Why had he been so determined to help Thor after he had left Loki to such a fate? Why should he even care about Thor? It was all Thor's fault, Thor had been the one to insist that he loved him, that they were still brothers and yet he had not come to his rescue.

Thor had told him that he no longer held such love, when he came to break him from the prison, had said that he would kill him should he betray Thor. Only to act as though he cared when he had been stabbed through the chest, Thor had seemed genuinely hurt and upset, but why? If he no longer held love for him why mourn.

But was that not what he wanted? For Thor to hate him, had he not been intentionally trying to hurt Thor so he would stop loving him? So he would hate him. So why was the though of his brother actually hating him, along with everyone else, so terrifying?

_"We can't keep relying on him, on others to come to our aid. He will just let us down as he has done before, betray us as everyone else has. It's up to us to protect ourselves."_ His double spoke, pacing the room.

_"You just need to let me help you."_ It finished before once again fading into nothing.

By the time Bruce came down to speak with him that afternoon, Loki wasn't really in the mood to play along. He had spent the last two hours thinking over what his double had said and now he was more confused than ever. A lot of what it had said made sense, his brother had let him down before, more than once, and he had learnt long ago not to rely on others, so why was he tempted to do so now. And the mortal friends of his brother at that, Thor's friends on Asgard had proven themselves willing to betray Loki first chance they got, why would Thor's new friends be any different.

"Loki?" Bruce's voice broke his thoughts, the man must have asked him a question at some point.

"Why are you doing this?" Loki asked, he wasn't interested in finding out what the man had said whilst he wasn't paying attention.

"Why? Because we want to try and help you. I thought we went over this the other day." Bruce replied.

"Yes, you wish to help. But why? What is it you get out of this? What do you gain?" The god pushed.

"Nothing really, I don't know, the hope you won't feel the need to attack our planet again? This isn't about gain, Loki. It's about doing the right thing, I guess, helping a friend." Bruce answered, not really sure what to say.

It wasn't like they were getting anything special in return for this, they were just trying to help Thor by helping Loki. It was obvious the young Asgardian needed help and it would seem that no one else had put the effort into trying to find or give that help. And he wasn't going to just get better by himself, the kid wasn't coping that much was blindingly obvious. So what was the harm in reaching out to him? Offering him help and a second chance, and if it all blew up in their faces, well, at least they had the reassurance that they had tried.

And that seemed to be more than anyone else had done.

"No!" Loki insisted, "There has to be something, some form of gain. People do not just offer kindness to others without wanting something in return. Be it gaining favour with the king or Thor, a boost to their reputation, gold or something other. There is always some form of selfish motive behind such offers."

"Okay, yes, many people would prefer to gain something in return for their efforts, but that isn't always the case. Some times people do things for others just because they can, because they want to and they don't want or expect anything in return." Bruce urged, trying to get the point across.

"You expect me to believe you are willing to aid your enemy, purely out of the goodness of your own hearts." Loki snorted back.

Bruce sighed, this was not how he had planned on spending his afternoon. "Look, I didn't come down here to argue Loki. Perhaps we could change topic, I thought-"

"I have no intentions off playing along with you today, honestly, you are simply wasting your time coming down here." Loki interrupted. Standing up and grabbing a fresh pair of black sweat pants and a green turtle neck, at least the humans had managed to get him clothes in his preferred colours, even if the quality wasn't quite to his standards.

"Now if you'll kindly leave, I wish to bathe and I would rather not see your face when I am done." And with that he stalked off to the bathroom.

* * *

"Good day in the office, sunshine." Tony jabbed, upon finding Bruce slumped over the breakfast bar, stirring a cold mug of coffee.

Stark went about pouring himself a mug of fresh _hot_ coffee, filling a mug for his buddy, sliding it over and removing the well stirred cold drink from his hands and dumping it in the sink.

"That bad, hey?"

"I have no idea what happened," Bruce confessed, taking a sip of his drink. "I though I- we were making progress, but now we seem to be back at square one. "

"Hey, you tried. Maybe Loki just can't be helped." Tony shrugged.

"Tony!" Bruce hissed back.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Maybe he's just being a dick, maybe he just doesn't want to talk feelings and crap today. I do it all the time, if I don't want to attend a meeting, fill out boring paper work or just don't want to do whatever I'm being nagged at for in general. Being a dick is a great way to get someone of your back, people tend to give up and leave you alone." Tony suggested.

"Well everyone, but Maria Hill, she just does not let up. Honestly, I'm starting to wonder why I even gave her the job in the first place."

"Don't give up, huh. I can't expect him to just breeze through this with out a couple of hitches, hell, I didn't exactly bounce back after I tried to end it. It took months. Thanks Tony." Bruce nodded, perking up a little as he requested for Jarvis to pull up that mornings recordings of the holding cells.

"What you doing now?" Tony questioned sitting himself on the stool next to the nuclear physicist.

"I'm hoping to try and figure out what may have triggered the mood change. Hopefully I can find a way to try and avoid it in the future." Bruce answered, looking back towards the ceiling. "Jarvis, you may want to call Thor down."

It just didn't feel right, the thought of watching footage of the thunderer's brother without Thor knowing. And he was sure Thor would want to watch with them, after all visiting Loki in person only seemed to work the younger god up. At least this way he could see how his little brother was doing.

_'__We__ can't keep relying on him, on others to come to our aid. He will just let us down as he has done before, betray us as everyone else has. It's up to us to protect ourselves.'_

"I would never betray my brother." Thor insisted, with a crestfallen look, as Bruce had Jarvis dismiss the projected screen playing the footage.

"Hey, we know this big guy." Tony said, giving Thor a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

They had only made it partway through the mornings surveillance, about halfway through the Loki doubles first little speech, before Bruce had had a sudden thought and had asked Jarvis if the double had made any night appearances. Jarvis had then pulled up several videos showing the doubles activities whilst the real Loki slept. It didn't really do much, not that there was much to do, but it was active all the same.

Before going back to finish the mornings footage.

Bruce was certain that what ever this thing was, it was of Loki's doing, be it magic or not. If it was it would explain why Loki was always so tired even when he was spending most of his time sleeping. He may have been resting but his mind certainly wasn't, his brain was still just as active as when he was awake, busy fuelling this copy.

"This should not be possible, Loki should not be able to call upon his magic, I know not how he is calling this copy of his forth. But why would he call forth a clone that says such things, that speaks so cruelly even of him?" Thor questioned, the cuffs on his brother should have sealed his magic completely. And whatever this copy of his brother was he did not much like it, Filling his brother's head with such words and thoughts.

"I don't know, Thor, but I intend to find out." Bruce stated.


	5. Chapter 5

**New chapter but it comes with bad news, Twisted and worn is going on hold for the time being, just so I can try and get Silver and cold wrapped up and out of the way. I really need to try and get the last few chapters written up and finished, then I'll get this fic up and going again as I have no plans of abandoning it. Promise**.

* * *

Why? Why had he said such things to the mortal man the other day? Sure he did not exactly trust the man, perhaps he had let him in a little, though he was still wary, but at least the guy was trying. Yes, it was a little annoying having him come and ask questions almost daily, but he had to admit, he did kind of enjoy the attention. It had been awhile since anyone had really payed him much attention.

Loki sighed as he sunk further into the tub, letting the soothing cool water wash over his body. He had been soaking in the tub for almost twenty minuets now, trying to clear his head, straighten out his thoughts and just plain relishing in the coolness of the water. He had noticed a slight rise in temperature lately, not too big a change, not so much that it was uncomfortable, but enough that it was noticeable. The tower's temperature was controlled this much he knew, after all the temperature had been level night and day since he got here and that just was not natural.

Yet for what ever reason it had changed, perhaps Stark's climate control was simply playing up, but Loki could not ignore the small part of his mind that was convinced that it was done purposely. That there was a chance that they had made his cell warmer as some form of punishment, perhaps Bruce had been angered by his childish behaviour the previous evening. But then again the man had insisted on wanting to help him, of being at least somewhat on his side.

Why must everything be so complicated. Why must he always feel the need to push away those who try to reach out to him? It was all just so frustrating, he hated feeling so confused and unsure about both himself and everything around him. It made him feel like a young child again. A child who could not figure out why their blocks would not stack as they want, so instead they knock them crashing to the ground. That was how he felt, like knocking something down, tearing things apart, destroying things, almost constantly. He just didn't know how to make it stop.

He sunk lower, fully submerging his face under water to try and wash away all trace of the tears gathering in his eyes. He just couldn't seem to control his emotions lately, he use to be so good at doing so. He needed to get a grip on himself, gain back control.

If only it was that easy.

He lay there in his own little sanctuary of water, the outside world muffled by the cool liquid as he watched the slow stream of bubbles from his nose as they rose to the surface. Observing the way the water above him distorted the room each time bubbles hit the surface. He must have been submerged for longer than he thought as the need for air was becoming uncomfortable, but he wasn't quite ready to re-enter the outside world just yet.

He had thought to stay under just a few moments longer, when he suddenly noticed a slight pull in the water as it started moving, flowing. It confused him at first, he was about to sit up and investigate when the water level begun dropping and he realised the drain had been opened. He sat up to try and plug it confused to how it had started draining in the first place, he had not pulled the plug up.

"Apologies, but you had been submerged beneath the water for almost four minuets. I feared your safety may have been jeopardised, so I decided to drain the bath as a precautionary measure." Stark's AI informed. "I have been programmed to imply several safety measures for a number of scenarios."

"I suppose I was done anyhow." Loki sighed as he got up and wrapped his towel around himself. Wondering whether those precautions and scenarios were crafted for every one or purely for him. If the computerised sentinel had worried he may test his limits, perhaps push too far. It left him wondering himself just how far he'd have pushed had the AI not decided for him.

* * *

He was actually feeling a lot better the following day, as he found himself seated upon his cot, book in hand and his lovely silver music box playing in the background. The long bath yesterday evening had helped to clear his mind a little, well at least sort his emotions enough that he felt more in control. He wasn't happy, nor content, not by a long-shot, but he was confident he could better hide the fact that he was a complete mess below the surface.

Bruce had not come to visit him since his little tantrum in which he dismissed the man and to be honest, he was beginning to believe that the doctor had indeed grown tired of trying to fix his friend's broken brother. What did he care. It would not be the first time some one had pretended to care for him only to abandon him once they tired of their game. He had no need for others pity and false sentiments.

And where in Hel's name was his broth... Not br... Thor, he had left Stark tower the previous day and had yet to return. In fact he had not seen the blonde brute in weeks, and yes, he could understand that perhaps the man may have wished to give him a little space after his last visit. He had managed to work himself into a fit after misinterpreting his brother's sentiments, he could see now that Thor had only meant well in what he had said, but at the time he had taken the thunderer's words as mocking. And of course Thor would have given him space after placing the binding cuffs upon his wrists, only a complete imbecile would show his face after that.

But that was several weeks ago now, it had now been a little over a month since Thor had last ventured down to visit him, and to be quite honest part of him kind of longed to see his brother. It made no sense. Why was Thor avoiding him? For all his so called brother claimed to Love him, claimed to still care for him, he was sure doing a poor job of proving it.

Perhaps Thor had finally found the sense to abandon him. Decided to toss him aside like garbage, just as Odin had done.

Was that not what he wanted?

The tell-tail ping of the elevator doors opening alerted him of Banner's arrival.

"I wasn't expecting to see you today Doctor Banner, I had figured you had finally given up." He stated, not bothering to look up from his book.

"Sorry to disappoint, but once I'm this involved in something I've found its near impossible to back out unless I know I have given it everything I have. I dare say you are stuck with me for some time yet." Bruce smiled as he made his way over to his chair. "I do apologise for not visiting yesterday, I was helping Tony with a friend of his. Oh, and please just call me Bruce."

Shifting a little to get comfortable, Bruce leaned back into the chair, wanting to create a more relaxed atmosphere as he continued. "I have a few questions I'd like to ask today, but before I start throwing questions your way. Is there anything you'd like to ask or just talk about?"

"Where is Thor?" The question slipped passed Loki's lips before he had the chance to catch it. Mentally cursing himself for opening his mouth before thinking.

"Thor?" Bruce blinked, he certainly hadn't expected that. He had imagined a few different ways in which the session could play out, but the trickster god asking after his brother had not been one of them. The boy seemed to get so riled up by even just mention of his brother, which was why Thor had decided to give him some space.

Loki's eyes narrowed a little in annoyance, as he turned to face the man. Had the man not just asked if he had any questions, and yet the guy seemed dumbfounded that he had actually asked one. "Yes, Thor, I can no longer sense his presence in the tower. He left yesterday and is yet to return, where is he?"

"Thor has returned home to Asgard, he said he had some errands to run." Banner replied, watching Loki closely for any reaction caused by their conversation. It seemed the god was becoming more in control of his emotions, was back to playing pretend, as if he wasn't a total wreck inside. And though Loki did a good job at hiding it, he didn't miss the slight tremble of the teen's hand as he griped his book tighter.

"Not with his precious Jane then?" Loki sneered, no emotion in his voice.

"No, not this time. He did pay her a visit a few weeks back though, to explain to her what was happening." Bruce said. "But I'm sure Thor won't be gone long."

"Aye, I'm sure he'll return for her soon enough." Loki replied, closing the book he was reading, placing it on his lap, before changing his mind and moving it to the nightstand.

What business could Thor possibly have that would keep him away this long? Feasting and drinking with friends no doubt. His little brother likely but a distant thought in the very back of his mind by now, too lost in merriment. Or perhaps he was with Odin, enjoying a family meal, lost in discussion. What would Asgard's king be telling Thor? Of him perhaps, playing up his time locked away hidden in the palaces forgotten recesses, filling his head with lies? Trying to sway Thor into returning his brother for just punishment?

Execution.

All knew the Allfather wanted him dead. How many times had the man told him he'd have his head for his actions during his visits to see the man. Odin had even attempted to run him through with the pointed end of one of the torches during one of his visits, had he not been projecting himself the fool would have killed the only person who knew where he was. The very man who once claimed to be his father, claimed to Love him.

How quickly that had all changed.

Loki blinked, realising he had become so caught in though he had let tears start to gather in his eyes. It didn't take long to regain composure, unfortunately the mortal must have noticed as his next words held the same tone the healers used to use when trying to sooth his worries whenever he'd hurt himself as a small child.

"For you, Loki. Thor would return here for you long before even considering visiting Jane."

Loki closed his eyes and took a deep breath, this was stupid, he had started down a path he had no intentions of traveling, by his own accord, what was he thinking. He wasn't, that was the issue, but he didn't wish to continue on this topic.

"You said you had questions, where is it you had planed to drag this little talk?"

"Ah, yes." Bruce nodded, clearly the topic of Thor was over. "I was hoping to try and find out a little more about this... doppelgänger of yours that comes out from time to time. I know I have asked this before but you seemed a little distressed at the time. Do you know what this thing is? A copy? A clone? Is it something you summon with your magic, and if so, how are you doing so with the cuffs on?"

"No, my magic is blocked from my use completely, though I still feel it there. Pulsing throughout my veins, it is right there at my fingertips, yet I can not draw upon it. It leaves this strange sensation, like a..." Loki trailed off trying to think of how best to described the feeling.

"Like a sort of itching feeling, as if something is crawling just beneath the skin." Bruce offered, the young god's attention snapped back to him at this.

"Aye."

"I get a similar feeling whenever the Hulk is itching to come out. It is how I learnt to control the changes, well... most of the time." Bruce stated.

Loki's eyes dropped to his lap as he mumbled, "It is most unnerving."

"Sorry?" The physicist asked. He hadn't quite caught that last part.

The dark haired teen gave his head a small shake, looking back to the man. "I am unsure exactly what this conjured creature is, it is not what it used to be."

"This is not a new thing?"

"It was an illusion, a projected duplicate I had summoned when I was a child, I created it to speak memories, my memories out loud. To keep me company back when I was too young to join in weapons training, on days when Thor was in class or hunting with friends and I had no one to play with."

Loki gave a soft snort, not wanting Bruce to get the wrong idea. "I realise how sad and pathetic that sounds, but fear not I soon grew out of it. Switching out invisible friends for books."

"It's nothing to feel ashamed about, Loki, many young children invent imaginary friends. I had one myself when I was little, strangely enough his name was Tony, though he was a little more mature than Stark even if he was only seven." Bruce joked. Though the fact that Loki's was back and from what Bruce had seen it didn't exactly seem very friendly at the moment, was admittedly a little unnerving.

"So when exactly did it start reappearing?"

"After I fell through the void, when I landed among the Chitauri... No, before that maybe. It may have been around during my time in the void, just more inside my head than a projected manifestation. Except I can't dismiss it anymore, I can't control its coming and goings, it shouldn't be here now my magic has been sealed. I.. I do not know how it is still conjuring itself." Loki admitted.

"Though perhaps if I were granted my magic back I may be able to be rid of it."

"Nice try Loki, unfortunately I can't just remove the cuffs on the odd chance you may be able to dismiss it, it would have to be put to vote." Bruce gave a small half laugh.

"It was worth a try." The god shrugged back, his attention shifting to the small music device on his nightstand as the contraption's song came to an end, and if folded in on itself reforming into a small silver sphere. "Worry not it is completely harmless as it lacks physical form."

Bruce couldn't quite agree with the Asgardian's last statement, while it may not hold the power to physically harm anyone. He was certain this double's harsh words were anything but healthy for Loki's emotional wellbeing.

"I just have one or two questions left before we are done today." Bruce said, glancing at his watch, looks like he had been down here longer than he thought. "A few weeks back you mentioned being hunted during an argument with that copy thing of yours. Who is after you?"

Loki remained silent as he weighed in whether to tell the man about the Chitauri, about Thanos or not. Would the mortals help him or would they just turn him in, hand him over if the Chitauri came looking. After all that happened during his last trip to Midgard. If the Chitauri came to fetch him and Thor and his friends refused to hand him over, he - Thanos would likely turn hostile. Surely the mortals would choose the safety of their realm over him?

"Please Loki, you are currently staying on our planet, if there is a chance someone might come looking for you, the least you could do is tell us who it is. So we can be prepared should we need to protect or defend ourselves, so we can try to help protect you. As long as you are in this tower you are in our protection." Bruce pushed, sensing Loki's uncertainty.

He didn't blame the kid for being so unsure, if he had been in the young god's shoes, stuck in the realm he had waged war on, he would be wary of trusting the intentions of those around him as well. They had been on opposing sides after all.

"The... The Chitauri." The raven haired god's words were so soft Bruce almost didn't catch them. He was starting to get the feeling Loki wasn't really use to asking for help.

"The Chitauri? I thought they were your allies."

Loki let his attention drift away from Bruce, staring ahead at the wall that lead to the bathroom. Eye's narrowed in thought as he explained.

"Not exactly. They were his allies, a loan of sorts to help me achieve my goal, our goal. Those creature were no friends of mine, I've no remorse for leading them to their death, it is just a pity only the few I was granted were wiped out and not the rest. I failed him, disappointed him, I realise that. He took me from them and now he would hand me back."

There he was with the 'He' again, but who or what was this he, that was what he hoped to find out yet the last times he had tried to breach that subject Loki had either closed up or diverted the conversation elsewhere. Bruce remembered Thor had mentioned once, back on the hellicarrier before Loki had escaped it, during his last visit to earth, that he worried his brother was being ordered or influenced by another. That someone else was involved, pulling the strings from behind the scene.

Not that it would have justified Loki's actions, whether he was following the orders of another or not, he had still waged war on their planet. He had still killed people, lots of people, even more during the actual invasion, even if he hadn't killed them personally. Actually when he thought of it Loki hadn't actually killed many himself, most of the victims killed were either killed during the invasion or by those under the sceptre's influence. Not that that deemed him any less guilty for his part in the war.

But perhaps Thor's concerns had been right, if he was given an army by another then surely this other would have had say in the war. They must have looked to gain something out of it. He just needed to find out who it was and what they had hoped to gain, and would he look to come finish the task himself?

"Who, Loki. You keep saying he, but who is he?"

"He... Th..." Loki sighed rubbing his left temple with his fingers, "I am starting to get a headache."

He couldn't, not just yet. The doctor now knew the of the Chitauri that others still lived and were out to get him, surely that was enough for now. He wasn't ready to delve into the subject of Thanos, the frightening being who had pulled him from the Chitauri, freed him from them then ordered them to follow Loki into battle.

"Loki, please." Bruce urged, though he was rather certain he would not be getting his answer today.

"I do not feel well, I would like to rest." Loki insisted.

"Very well," Bruce conceded, "would you like anything for the head ache? I have aspirin, it might help dull the pain."

Loki simply shook his head. "I shall be fine, I just need rest."

"As you wish, well, you have been extremely cooperative today, thank you. I shall see you again tomorrow and seeing how well today went, perhaps I'll hand the reigns over to you tomorrow. You can talk about anything you like, ask question or not talk at all if that is what you'd rather its up to you." With that Bruce headed back upstairs and left the God to rest.

Best not to push the God too far, he figured, not when they were - he hoped - finally making progress.

* * *

The following day came and still his brother had not returned, and as promised when Bruce came to visit he had let Loki decide how the session went. And the first thing he had done was ask for some new activities to occupied his time, as he had already finished one of his puzzle books and was growing bored of the other. Bruce had agreed to find him some books to read.

"Okay, I just have to ask. What is that?" Bruce spoke, nodding over towards the neatly scattered cogs, screws, wires, computer chips and other bits and pieces on the floor buy Loki's bed.

Loki looked over at the dismantled contraption on the floor behind him, turning back to the moral as he pointed out. "It is one of Starks little devices that scurries about the room sweeping up dust at night."

"I figured as much, but why is it in pieces?" Bruce clarified.

"I was curious as too it's workings, I wanted to find out how it worked." He admitted, before adding. "Though worry not I shall put it back together and it should be back in working order when I do, I hope. I do not plan on crafting some form of weapon from it." Brillaint Loki, go ahead and mention weapons now the man is sure to have suspicions.

"That's quite a different reaction to Thor. The first time he saw one of the cleaner bots he took his hammer to the poor thing and smashed it to smithereens." Bruce laughed back, "Though don't worry if it doesn't work, Tony will be able to get it going again easy enough."

"I'm sure I can manage to get it going eventually even if it takes a few tries." He argued back, determined to not quit on it until he had it back together and running again.

"Can I ask you something?" Loki asked, settling down cross legged on the floor just in front of the clear wall separating them.

"Sure, I did say I would give you the reins today, so ask away." Bruce smiled back, moving himself so he too was seated on the floor rather than his chair.

"You are still here, in the tower, why? The others seem to have gone their separate ways, they don't seem to be inhabiting the tower any more." He asked, genuinely curious.

"There are a few reasons I decided to hang around I guess." Bruce answered, thinking for a moment before going on to say. "Well I don't actually have a place of residents of my own. After the incident in which the Hulk was crated I hurt people, people I cared about, I couldn't control it, I still can't control when he comes and goes, not fully. I was a danger so naturally I attracted unwanted attention, I ended up running and causing a fair bit of damage along the way, running from both those who whish to eliminate the Hulk and those who sought to replicate him. I was constantly moving, I've been all over America I tried to flee to Canada once, it didn't go so well. Eventually I left America going to other countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan then India. Calcutta, that's where Natasha found me and brought me back to help find the tesseract after you took it."

"Though I'm sure you likely knew most of that, you seemed pretty well inform by the agents you brainwashed." The man said, "I don't have to run here, my pursuers have backed off some now that I'm an Avenger. Not to mention this place is really well equip to contain the Hulk when needed and Tony or Iron man more so is able to handle him. It also helps that I enjoy Tony's company, he is really intelligent even though he can be immature at times. I like not having to dumb things down all the time around him, I can have an actual intellectual conversation without people looking at me like I'm not speaking English. It also helps that we share quite a few common interests and three entire floors filled with every gadget and piece of equipment a scientist or inventor could dream of, to use to our hearts content. He even has a great medic bay on one of those floors he said I was free to use to further my medical training. I don't think I've ever had a friend as great as Tony and he has done a great job of making this place feel like a home."

"I guess all in all, I just didn't really have much of an old life to go back to." He finished.

"It must be nice having found such a good friend." Loki mused quietly a hint of melancholy in his voice.

He had never really had good friends, for a time he had managed to convince himself he shared his brothers friends. That they were in fact just as much his as they were Thor's, just like Thor had kept insisting. That even though a small pang of hurt washed over him every time they mocked or laughed at him, that they meant it only in jest as they joked with each other, even if it seem a little harsher towards him than the others at times. They were quick to tear down that illusion once Thor had been banished however. He had other friends of course ones who shared some of his interests, mainly an interest in the magical arts. Though even they only really spent time with him if they needed help learning certain spells or illusion or if they were in need of a favour.

"I'm sure you had friends back home." Bruce urged, sensing the drop in the others spirits and hoping to try and lift them again. Even after all the god had done, if his brother was willing to stick by him then surely his friends were as well.

"Somewhat I suppose, though none I could really call close." Loki admitted, opting to leave the topic at that and continue on with his next question one that he hoped might help him to understand things a little better.

"How do you do it? How did you fix what you- the Hulk had done? How did you manage to gain back everyone's trust, make them forgive you?" He decided not to put too much hope into the man's answer though, knowing it impossible to reverse all he had done himself.

Bruce thought on this, it was a question he certainly hadn't seen coming, but if Loki was asking such a question then surely that meant the guy held some sort of remorse for his actions. It was a rather hard question though, he hadn't fixed things, hadn't repaired what he had done he couldn't, as negative as that sounds no one can change the past.

"To be honest with you, there is nothing you can do to fix what has been done." He said, further explaining as he noticed the other flinch at his words.

"There isn't a way to repair all the damage or hurt I've caused, I doubt there ever will be. I can't reverse time and I can't undo the Hulk I can't get rid of him, I've tried so far nothing has worked. I can't even rid the world of him by killing myself, believe me I tried that too. And as much as it can make sense that everything and everyone would be better off if you no longer existed, at times, it isn't the answer. It is never the answer. It doesn't fix anything."

He was pretty sure if the look in the god's eyes were anything to go off, Loki didn't quite believe those last words.

"I haven't fixed anything, I've tried to make up for some of the bad I've done by doing good. When I was in Calcutta I used what medical knowledge I had to try and aid those who were sick, those who couldn't afford proper medical attention. I figured if I couldn't fix the bad I'd done in the past I could at least focus on doing good, that's part of the reason I decided to be an Avenger. I could do good, help protect people and hope that maybe I might to be able to gain forgiveness for what I had done. Show people I was trying to change, that they no longer need to fear me. I think that is a big part of why everyone decided to give the Avenger initiative ago to begin with, we all have demons we wish we could forget. Some are just bigger than others."

"And what if trying to do good doesn't work, just makes them hate you more?" Loki countered, refusing to take his eyes from his hands in his lap.

"I suppose every action holds the chance of upsetting somebody, as they say, you can't please everyone. Though I fail to see how trying to do the right thing could make others hate you." Bruce answered not sure exactly what Loki meant.

"I rebuilt Asgard, put the city and the poor before even the palace. I rebuilt alliances, returned to the Jutnar what Odin had stolen over a millennia ago so they may finally repair the damages caused to their own realm since its heart was stolen. Organised trade through the Elves, who have always held better standing with the realm of Ice so they may receive goods and materials they are in need of. Yet both Odin and Thor's friends despise me more than ever and by now I'm sure the rest of the realm does as well." Loki growled out, sounding more than a little frustrated. "Nothing I do will ever please anyone."

Bruce let out a sigh, he wasn't sure Loki quite understood that what he was actually doing and what he thought he was doing were not the same thing. Though his intentions may have been good the way he went about it wasn't so good.

"I've no doubt what you did during your time on the throne benefited more than just yourself. Though while you did good things the fact that you did so in a deceitful manner is likely why you have managed to anger so many. You locked away the king and stole his identity in order to do so, you deceived everyone along the way."

"What was I supposed to do, how am I to ever attempt to prove myself when everyone despises me! They'd have locked me back beneath the palace if they'd known I lived, I was to spend the rest of my life alone down there, what good could I possibly do forgotten in some cell. How are you supposed to earn back trust when there was never any to begin with." Loki hissed, letting his hair fall in front of his eyes, not that it made the tears falling down his cheeks any less visible.

"I don't know Loki, I honestly don't. But you are not in Asgard right now and though you may still be in a cell of sorts for the time being, so far your not doing so bad as you might think. And as I've said before, apart from that little incident two months back, you haven't tried to kill anyone and apart from the odd - to be expected in this situation - mood swing, you've been quite civil. Forget about Asgard for now, at least you've managed to make some ground here, I know I've stoped feeling so tense and on edge around you and given Tony doesn't have Jarvis giving him hourly updates anymore, I'd say you've managed to gain a little trust in both of us. Surely that has to be worth something." Bruce offered.

He had no idea how Loki was going to win back Asgard's trust either. Though perhaps if Loki stay here and continue to heal, if he could have a chance to prove he could get better, could change. If he could gain the trust of the Avengers, or even just some of them, he might be able to gain enough confidence to push forwards and try to continue down this new path. And then maybe, just maybe those in Asgard could find it in themselves to offer him the chance to regain their faith as well.

It was worth a try.

Bruce decided it might be best to leave it at that considering Loki had started getting so emotional. He was pretty sure it was a good sign, it meant Loki was starting to open up even if just a little. Of course he asked if the Asgardian wanted to continue or if he'd rather they end the day's session at that first. When Loki seemed content enough to leave it at that Bruce excused himself before heading off.

He returned two hours later however, with some books for Loki to read as promised, Tony had given him permission to grab a few novels from Peppers library as she had yet to collect them. Seemed the woman favoured thriller and mystery books, he just hoped Loki found them interesting enough. He also brought some of his own work down with him, figuring it might be nice to spend the evening down with the young god, thought the guy might like to have another's presence for a while outside one of their sessions.


End file.
